Seattle City Council Transportation & Seattle Public Utilities Committee 9/19/23

Good morning and welcome.

The September 19th meeting of the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee will come to order.

The time is 9.31 a.m.

I'm Alex Peterson, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll.

Councilmember Herbold.

Councilmember Morales.

Here.

Councilmember Sawant.

Councilmember Strauss.

Present.

Chair Peterson.

Present.

Three present.

Thank you.

Councilmembers Herbold and Sawant are excused.

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

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Chair's report, good morning again, and welcome to this committee meeting.

We've got 24 items on our agenda, though 18 of them are appointments to various transportation advisory boards, and we'll be grouping those votes together.

First on the agenda, Seattle Public Utilities is back for a final discussion and likely vote on Council Bill 120657, revising water rates.

As a reminder, the rate in this legislation is lower than originally anticipated in the city's six-year rate path.

Second, Seattle Public Utilities will present Council Bill 120661 that updates the litter code to establish an administrative enforcement process for illegal dumping.

This is also before us for a likely vote today.

Third, Council Member Morales is bringing forward Council Bill 120658, which is a proposal to require sidewalks to be fixed or installed in conjunction with major street improvement projects led by our Seattle Department of Transportation.

Thank you, Council Member Morales, for putting that proposal forward.

Fourth, we have Council 120642 back in our committee for a likely vote.

This is the proposal from our Seattle Department of Transportation to temporarily eliminate fees for food trucks, vending carts, and smaller sidewalk activities.

Fifth, we have a draft four-page bill regarding culturally modified trees that was crafted in consultation with the Snoqualmie tribe to prevent more threats to such important trees.

I really appreciate the hard work of central staff and the city attorney's office on this legislation.

This draft legislation is awaiting formal introduction.

So in the meantime, we'll have a brief presentation on it here from our council central staff agenda item 6 through 23 on our agenda are 18 appointments to five advisory and oversight boards including the bike advisory board freight pedestrian transit and school traffic Safety Committee I want to give a huge thank you to all the appointees and reappointees today who volunteer their time for such important transportation issues impacting our city.

And finally, we will hear an update to our Seattle Department of Transportation's Vision Zero action plan efforts.

As you may recall, Director Spatz has made safety a priority at SDOT and completed a top-to-bottom review of Seattle's Vision Zero program, which is committed to a vision of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by the year 2030. So we'll hear an update from SDOT on their early action initiatives as well as other updates they can provide to us today.

At this time we'll open the general public comment period for the Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee.

For our hybrid meeting we have people signed up to give public comment both online and in person.

Let's see, I'll moderate the public comment period in the following manner.

I'll start with speakers who registered online and then I'll call on speakers who've signed up here in council chambers.

The public comment period will be up to 20 minutes, but I'll extend it to 30 minutes if we need to give each speaker two minutes to speak.

I'll call on speakers two at a time in the order in which they're registered on the council's website or on the sign-in sheet in the council chambers, unless we have elected officials or, in this case, we've got the chairman of the Snoqualmie Tribe who will be speaking.

So they will go first.

For remote speakers, once I call a speaker's name, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone, and an automatic prompt of, you have been unmuted, will be the speaker's cue that it's their turn to speak, and the speaker must press star six to begin speaking.

For all public commenters, please begin by stating your name and the item you are addressing.

As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda or to our committee's oversight responsibilities.

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

So when you hear the chime, keep going, just start to wrap it up.

And if speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's microphone will be muted to allow the next speaker.

If you're providing public comment remotely, once you have completed your comment, Let's see, if you're providing comment remotely, once you've completed your comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line.

And if you plan to continue following the meeting, please do so via Seattle Channel or the listening options listed on the agenda.

I am getting a note saying that a couple of the online speakers have not received the email with the call-in information.

So if our IT staff could just make sure that's working properly, that they're getting the email back on how to call in.

Okay.

Let's go ahead and start with our online speakers who are present.

At this time, we'll make sure that Chairman De Los Angeles gets that contact information, because he's waiting for that.

So we'll go ahead and start with Andrew Kitty, followed by Jessica Dixon.

Go ahead, Andrew.

Thank you.

Can you hear me.

Yes.

My name is Andrew Kidder and I live in South Seattle and I'm testifying in favor of the sidewalk construction ordinance.

There are many reasons to support this bill.

It promotes neighborhood conviviality.

My personal favorite.

It helps public health and safety.

So important for our communities.

And it brings less, it can help less, find less air pollution and climate pollution, which we need so we can avoid the worst catastrophes of climate disruption.

But for many of us, the reasons are not big public policy questions, but are right in front of our face.

My neighbor is a retired school teacher living alone, and there's a big crack in the sidewalk in front of her house.

and it's heaved up about three inches there, and she can't afford to fix it, so she's painted it bright white, but she worries about someone getting hurt.

And I have another neighbor, also an elderly woman, who regularly walks our block on her walker, and I've stood by, willing to give her a hand if she needs it, as she claws her way over the rise in my other neighbor's sidewalk.

Our current policy on sidewalks causes danger and anxiety for our most vulnerable neighbors.

We can and must do better.

Please expedite this bill.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Jessica Dixon followed by Sandy Shetler.

Go ahead, Jessica.

Hi.

Good morning.

This is Jessica Dixon.

I'm on the board of Plant Amnesty and I'm calling in reference to the bill to recognize culturally modified trees in the city.

All general council meetings start with a message recognizing that the City of Seattle occupies land lived on by the people of the Duwamish and many other tribes who lived here for thousands of years before settlers moved here.

So it's disheartening to see the city agencies and officials stand by when developers take down the last of our hundred plus year old native trees revered by the indigenous people.

So what is the small way we can truly honor indigenous people past and present by recognizing not only sacred sites such as Licton Springs in North Seattle but the native trees that were culturally modified to stand out in the landscape for wayfinding and gathering.

Please allow Council Member Peterson's legislation protecting culturally significant trees to be heard.

by voting this morning to put his legislation on the Council's introduction and referral calendar.

The simple bill was crafted last month with the Snoqualmie Tribe and has already been prevented three times from being on the introduction and referral calendar.

And preventing a simple bill that would protect a small universe of culturally modified trees from even being heard makes it look like the City Council is more responsive to the financial power and influence of for-profit developers than to the tribes who have been subject to erasure in the city of Seattle since the beginning of White Settlement.

Scare tactics about delays in development are disingenuous when SDCI can simply check with a state at the speed of an email.

It is the job of this government to respect tribal rights and to follow the law by protecting culturally modified trees as archaeological objects.

I urge you to do the right thing today and support Seattle's tree canopy and indigenous tribes including the Squamish tribe.

because they deserve to have their city and state governments protect culturally significant trees and comply with state law.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Sandy Shetler, followed by Martha Baskin.

Go ahead, Sandy.

Hi, good morning.

Thank you.

Yeah, this is Sandy Shetler with Tree Action Seattle.

Thank you, council members, for listening to the CMT amendment presentation today.

And thank you, Council Member Peterson and Snoqualmie Tribe leaders for crafting this important bill.

This bill codifies and extends the protection which is already mandated for culturally modified trees by Washington state government and legal treaty.

Recently, I learned about the removal of a huge cedar in West Seattle that might have been culturally modified.

When community members called SDCI to report it, the intake staff told callers There's no such thing as protection for CMTs.

That tree is now gone.

Protection for CMTs simply recognizes the existing sovereignty of tribes and acknowledgment of state law.

It also places Seattle on the right side of history and fulfills the verbal commitments we frequently repeat in our land acknowledgments.

Thank you for supporting it.

Thank you.

Next, we've got Martha Baskin, followed by Alice Lockhart.

Go ahead, Martha.

Yes, good morning all.

Please, I'm also weighing in on culturally modified trees.

Good morning, Martha Baskin here.

Please allow Council Member Peterson's legislation to proceed and be heard this afternoon.

The saga of Luma, a cedar in Northeast Seattle, brought the issue of culturally significant trees to the public's attention.

But as Sandy Shetlar just said, there are many, many, many such trees all over our small city.

This bill has already been prevented from being heard, as has already been discussed this morning.

three times, but it certainly should be allowed to at least be voted on.

Culturally modified trees are those that the tribes are very much wanting to protect as we go forward.

And I think the public and the tribe would be appreciative of any city council members doing the right thing in this case to support Seattle's tree canopy.

And again, scare tactics about developers having to work around such a tree when they often are standing on the edge of a lot is indeed a scare tactic in and of itself.

DCI can simply check with the state very quickly.

And if it's too hard to do and it's not a legitimate excuse, then something else will happen.

But I urge the good council to allow this legislation to be put forward.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next, we have Alice Lockhart, followed by Amara Shermerhorn.

Go ahead, Alice.

Good morning, committee members.

I'm Alice Lockhart with 350 Seattle, speaking in favor of the sidewalk ordinance, Council Bill 120658. This is really exemplary legislation.

I'm so happy to see it.

It changes business as usual for all road maintenance projects from being all about cars to also include sidewalks.

Sidewalks really are infrastructure for climate friendly transportation.

And if Seattle is to reduce the two thirds of climate pollution that comes from transportation, we need SDOT business as usual to reflect this policy in every way.

And routinely prioritizes those of us walking and rolling to and from the bus and light rail and short trips in our neighborhoods does exactly that.

I really hope that it will be quick and easy for you all to pass this great legislation and I hope to see it followed up by additional such really good stuff that will, sorry, will just revolutionize It's high time.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And we actually have the Snoqualmie Chairman Robert De Los Angeles available now who's present.

So, Chairman, welcome.

Thank you.

You just press star six on your phone and we'll be able to hear you.

Go ahead and press star six, Chairman, so we can we can unmute your phone.

There you go.

Go ahead.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

All right.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Suquamish Indian tribe, the members of Transportation and Utilities Committee.

I'm the chairman of the Suquamish Indian tribe of the Los Angeles.

As you know, our tribe decided to be public this summer about the need to protect cultural modified trees or the CMT.

In Seattle this summer after we became aware of the being permitted for removal, the CMTs are archeological sites and as such are protected under state law.

It is critical that other CMT archeological sites are protected within Seattle limits and beyond.

When the city passed its new tree ordinance, Tribes were not consulted, and as a result, language to protect CMTs were not included.

The legislative fix before you has been carefully crafted to include tribal feedback and review, thanks to Councilman Peterson.

Our hands go up to Councilman Peterson for his leadership and follow-through for introducing language that will help protect these few remaining CMT archaeological sites in the city of Seattle and reaching out to not only the Snoqualmie Union tribe, but other tribes in the area on this issue.

Our ask is please to make sure this bill is heard and acted on with the urgency it deserves.

Thank you for allowing me to speak.

Thank you very much, Chairman, for your wisdom and time, and we will keep communicating with you on this.

Next, we have Amara Schermerhorn, followed by Suzanne Grant.

Go ahead, Amara.

Hello.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Amara Schermerhorn.

I am here with Empower Movement Washington, and I'm calling for support of an ordinance relating to sidewalk construction and pedestrian mobility improvement.

I'm adding section 1570.040 to the Seattle Municipal Code.

So Seattle has a sidewalk problem.

24%, 1100, 11,000 of our city streets are missing sidewalks.

And according to a 2017 federal assessment, more than half of our existing sidewalks are inaccessible because of unrepaired cracks and bumps.

And without usable sidewalks, some disabled people would prefer to take the bus and end up having to pre-schedule rides with paratransit, which is sometimes unreliable.

More often than not, those of us who cannot drive end up being stuck at home much more than we'd like.

giving up activities that would keep us healthy and connected to our communities.

Adults with disabilities who work, walk for a greater share of trips and workers without disabilities and deficiencies in safe sidewalks, impact economic mobility, access to opportunity and participation in our communities.

So, transportation research shows that increased crashes on blocks that are missing sidewalks in Seattle, including missing sidewalks north of 85th Street parts of South Seattle and in some industrial areas mean that people living and traveling in these neighborhoods experience increased risk.

Having safe places for people to walk and roll is an important step in addressing our current epidemic of traffic violence.

This would also be a benefit for climate.

So in Seattle transportation emissions are by far the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions And it's critical that we create safe and accessible connections to get where we need to go, whether that's around the corner or to the store or to the nearest bus or light rail stop.

So just like we can expect our city to build and maintain roads, that same should be true for sidewalks.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

Next, we have Suzanne Grant, followed by Barbara Bernard.

Go ahead, Suzanne.

Hello, Councilmember Peterson.

So pleased to be able to speak at your committee.

This is Suzanne Grant.

I'm speaking to agenda item number five, an ordinance relating to tree protection.

Well, National Geographic, Ted Talks, what happens when a city cuts down all of its trees?

Singapore, what is common to all of these and so many news outlets, articles, and other cities around the world about what we can still do to save ourselves from the climate catastrophe that we are facing?

Leave trees in the ground.

Please allow Council Member Peterson's legislation protecting CMTs to be heard by voting this afternoon to put his legislation on the Council's introduction and referral calendar.

Preventing this simple bill that will protect the small universities of CMTs from even being heard will make it look like you, the City Council, is more responsive to the financial power and influence of for-profit developers Then to the tribes who spoke this morning.

Thank you.

And the environmentalists like many of us seeking to protect Seattle's dwindling tree infrastructure.

Even the Sierra Club and 350.org have finally come around to acknowledging that the tree ordinance needs some amending.

We will be so grateful to any of the city council members who do the right thing to support Seattle's tree canopy and the Indigenous tribes.

Think of your legacy.

You have a responsibility not only to your constituents It's our children and grandchildren to do all you can to care for the earth that they will inherit from us.

Follow the science, not the money.

Listen to your conscience, not the voices of your master builders.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we've got Barbara Bernard, followed by Karen Taylor.

Go ahead, Barbara.

Good morning, everyone.

This is Barbara Bernard calling in to ask for consideration of council member Peterson's legislation that protects culturally significant trees to be heard today by voting this afternoon on this legislation or to put the legislation, excuse me, onto the council's introduction and referral calendar.

We'll be really grateful to any city council members who do the right thing this afternoon to support Seattle's tree canopy and indigenous tribes including some Kwame tribe, because they deserve to have their city and state governments protect culturally significant trees and comply with state law to save trees like luma.

The people who spoke before me just spoke so eloquently to the concerns.

And I think that they just really took care of covering all the bases and sharing what needed to be said today.

So I just want city council to really consider to do the right thing today.

Thank you for your time.

Take care.

Thank you.

Next we have Karen Taylor followed by Richard Ellison.

Go ahead, Karen.

Hi, my name is Karen Taylor.

I'm a member of the Transit.

Karen, you cut out there.

Hi, my name is Karen Taylor.

I'm a member of the Transit Riders Union and I walk with a cane.

And I'm just calling in support of sidewalks.

It's time we take some responsibility for our sidewalks.

And along with the climate benefits, it's just time to center disabled folks and folks who need to use the sidewalks, who use our public transportation.

And then that last little bit is on the sidewalk.

And if we don't have them, we have to walk in traffic and it's dangerous or trip over sidewalks that are ill maintained.

So please vote in support of sidewalk.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Richard Ellison followed by Abel Pacheco.

Go ahead, Richard.

Good morning.

This is Richard Ellison and I live in District 4 and I also live in the community of Wedgwood where the tree known as Luna was discovered and the community attempted to try to protect this tree and if it wasn't for the the upright devotion of the community to try to save the tree, I suspect it to be gone now.

Fortunately, it also caught the attention of the local tribes who also spoke up and discovered this tree was a culturally modified tree.

I am strongly in support of this proposal to protect culturally modified trees as part of the new tree ordinance.

I think that for the city council and for the beginning of almost every city meeting, To go ahead and say that we thank the Duwamish tribe, we thank the local tribes for giving this land to the city people of Seattle, and then not go ahead and support culturally modified trees would be pretty much an outrageous thing.

And so I urge the city council in its heart to do all that it can to protect culturally modified trees by supporting this ordinance.

I also would like to support the ordinance about sidewalk construction requirements and priorities.

It is unfortunate that so many of our streets and communities do not have sidewalks, at least on one side of the street.

And this is a danger to the people who are pedestrians.

As the city gets busier and busier, as we develop more and more streets, it's really important that there be sidewalks available for local pedestrians.

I would say, though, there needs to be a modification in this, in that there should be something noted that as sidewalks are created or sidewalks are modified that have been buckled, that all efforts are made to save the trees that are there in case these tree roots are in fact having an impact on the sidewalk.

So I would urge some kind of language to help to protect trees in the process of sidewalk construction.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our last online speaker is Abel Pacheco, and then we have nine in-person speakers.

Go ahead, former Council Member Abel Pacheco, welcome.

Thank you.

Good morning council members.

My name is Abel Pacheco, Government Relations Director for the Central Corridor at Sound Transit.

On behalf of Sound Transit, I'm speaking in appreciation of the collaboration between SDOT and Sound Transit to enhance safety for all users in the Rainier Valley.

In August 2022, Sound Transit and SDOT signed a partnership agreement to lead a multi-year effort to enhance safety for all users along the MLK Corridor.

SDOT Deputy Director Stephan and Sound Transit Chief Safety Officer David Wright have led this effort, and as you'll hear this morning, progress is being made on this multi-year effort to enhance safety.

Sound Transit in 2021 led a robust community engagement effort to hear directly from the Rainier Valley community their concerns related to Sound Transit.

This effort led to the signing of the partnership agreement and continues to guide a collaborative effort between the two organizations as we implement near, intermediate, and long-term enhancements along the corridor.

Councilmember Peterson and Councilmember Morales Thank you for your leadership, supporting collaboration as well.

I'm keeping a keen focus on this quarter and challenging us all to better serve our community.

Again, thank you.

Thank you.

And our in-person speakers, welcome.

We're going to go first just by the list here that's filled out.

So Anaki Langu and followed by Mike Taylor.

Go ahead and pull that microphone really close to your, either one should work.

Is this working?

Yes.

Thank you, Chair Patterson.

My name is Yaki Longa.

I'm a resident of District 3, and I wish to comment on the safety and livability issues on MLK.

I live on MLK Junior Way in the Central District section between Union and Cherry Streets.

The quality of life for residents on this street is negatively affected, both by the danger posed by fast moving cars, as well as the noise pollution that they create.

Levels of traffic noise here easily hit 80 decibels, way above the levels recommended for health reasons.

This directly impacts the health of residents, for example, through decreased sleep quality.

MLK is notably one of the most racially diverse streets in the area, highlighting racial equity concerns.

I'm here today towards the committee to take measures that will improve the quality of life for residents on MLK.

These measures should aim to lower the average speed of cars and decrease the associated noise pollution.

In 2020, the council wisely voted to lower the speed limit to 25 miles per hour, but this speed limit is unfortunately neither enforced nor adhered to.

I urge you today to implement fixes like speed bumps or painting pedestrian crosswalks that reduce the average speed of cars.

I'd like to specially emphasize the poor condition of the road pavement, which makes traffic by vehicles even louder than under normal circumstances.

The street badly needs repaving.

Transit riders of bus line eight on MLK will also benefit from repaving the street.

I have attempted to contact the three councilwomens I want.

Unfortunately, I'm not here today to discuss the issue.

We residents would be forever thankful to the councilwoman if she could act on this and make it part of her legacy before her term expires.

Please take measures to reduce car speed and noise pollution from cars on MLK Jr.

Way today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Mike Taylor followed by Lynn Domingo.

Hello?

Can you hear me?

Is that mic on?

I don't, I, one moment.

Oh, no worries.

Yeah, is this the right one?

Okay.

Hi, I'm Mike Taylor, online, a bike influencer, and I actually, I wasn't planning on coming here today, but I wanted to address specifically the people on the cycle advisory board that are receiving their appointments.

Something that I've been involved with with the cycling community is e-bikes, which have made biking far more accessible for individuals.

And you see them all over the trail, and it's a wonderful thing.

Another city that is seeing a huge boom in e-bikes and e-bike usage is New York City.

And unfortunately, this year they've seen 154 e-bike related fires in their city, which has led to about 14 deaths.

Since then, they've been reactive in applying UL legislation, UL 2849, to e-bike batteries to ensure that they meet fire safety standards.

And so I'm urging Seattle City Council and the Bicycle Advisory Board members to review what New York has done so that way we don't have to be reactive to issues as they arise.

What brought me down today was over the weekend, a bike battery exploded in a low-income community in the U District.

And I thought it was important to give some voice to that.

So I thank you all for letting me speak, and I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Next, we have Lynn Domingo followed by Cecilia Black.

Go ahead, Lynn.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Lynn, and thank you very much for bringing up this legislation on sidewalks.

I'm with the National Federation of the Blind, and I'm also here to support the Disability Mobility Initiative.

Thank you Councilmember Strauss for being here and supporting the disabilities community.

I know I've had many talks to you about sidewalk issues and safety.

Thank you Tammy, Councilmember Morales for writing this legislation.

I'm a I am very much a transit-dependent person, and I walk about three hours a day and transport myself on buses that are not there.

And I go visit my friends, who oftentimes have difficulties interacting because we are so frustrated with sharing our...

with other that are non-pedestrian, e-bikes, sidewalks, grills, grids.

It's really hard to get out there and walk.

Every year I buy about four of these white canes and tips, carry it around so that I am mobile, I'm independent.

I am very much pleased that we can address the sidewalk issues.

It is very important for a universal understanding that we may not be all able but we are able to get around.

So the issues of disability is not the issue of not being there, but supporting each other.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next we have Cecilia Black followed by Noah Ahn.

Go ahead, Cecilia.

My name is Cecilia Black, and I'm a D4 resident, a quadriplegic, and organizer with Disability Mobility Initiative.

And I am urging you to support the sidewalk ordinance CB120658.

I live two blocks from Seattle's new Roosevelt Light Rail Station and within four blocks of several major bus lines.

In the last six years, I've watched the 65th Street Corridor transform with added center lanes, bike lanes, and new bus stop islands.

And still within these four blocks, every single bus stop, light rail, and pedestrian improvement is separated by long stretches of broken sidewalks that are incredibly difficult to navigate in a wheelchair, and I'm forced to use the bike lane.

While not the most egregious sidewalks in the city, Roosevelt is a prime example of our failure to create a safe and cohesive network for pedestrians and why we need this legislation.

It sets serious implications for people with disabilities.

Without sidewalks, we can't access things like public transit.

At the same time, sidewalks are a proven safety measure to reduce collisions.

Between 2016 and 2020, people with disabilities were involved in 4% of total Seattle traffic accidents, yet accounted for 53% of people killed.

When we invest in roads without sidewalks, we not only continue to prioritize cars, we actively build a dangerous transportation system that takes us further away from our accessibility, Vision Zero, and climate goals.

If we want to build an accessible city and truly care about traffic fatalities, we have to reframe how we view sidewalks and treat them as a vital element of the transit system.

This ordinance is a very important first step.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Noah Ahn, followed by Anna Zavarts.

Go ahead, Noah.

Welcome back.

Thank you.

Hey there, I'm Noah Ahn.

I'm here on behalf of Commute Seattle to testify in support of Council Bill 120642 relating to sidewalks.

Commute Seattle works to make it easy for folks to get out of their cars and walk, bike, ride, and roll through the city.

And this legislation supports that goal.

One of the ways we do that work is our 2022 Seattle Commute Survey.

Last fall, we talked to one in 10 people who work in Seattle and asked them how they get around the city post-pandemic.

And when you map that data out, something you can see really starkly is where our infrastructure is adequate and where it's lacking.

When you look at where people walk in this city, it correlates incredibly strongly to where we know we have sidewalks and where we know we don't.

For example, you can see 85th, north of 85th.

Folks just are not walking at the same rates that they are south of 85th.

It is really important, again, that we build the infrastructure if we're serious about getting folks out of their cars.

So if we're serious about our climate goals, our safety goals, our equity goals, then we have to expand and maintain our sidewalk network, and that's what this legislation will help us do.

And on a separate note, I'd like to mention the Transit Advisory Board appointments before you.

Pria Ballin is an amazing member of our Commute Seattle team.

She is up for nomination to the Transit Advisory Board.

She'll be an incredible asset to that board.

She's an up-and-coming leader in our region, and we're really excited to see her start serving.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anna Zavartz, followed by Gordon Bedelford.

Hello.

Good morning, everyone.

Ana Zavartz here.

I direct the Disability Mobility Initiative.

We're a program of Disability Rights Washington.

And I'm here today to testify in support of the Sidewalks Ordinance.

We started working on this policy solution last spring in a work group that included former Mayor Mike McGinn, who's now the director of America Walks, former SDOT director Sam Zimbabwe, landscape architect Bryce Merriman, Smart Growth America's Complete Streets Program, staff, Commute Seattle, thanks Noah for being here, and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, and you'll hear from Gordon shortly.

And so, the policy that we came up with, we worked on in addition with that group, with Councilmember Morales's office, thank you for all your work on this, and their staff.

who coordinated with SDOT to make sure that this was a policy solution that was going to work for everyone.

We have circulated it to a group of advocates in the city who have signed on in support.

You've heard from 350 Seattle, America Walks, BC Seattle, Cascade Bicycle Club, Commute Seattle, David Miller, who's a certified orientation and mobility specialist at the Lighthouse.

Empower Movement, whom you heard from Amara.

They're a new BIPOC-led disability group that's co-hosted by Disability Mobility Initiative and Front and Centered.

Feet First, Hopelink Mobility, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, Transit Riders Union, Transportation Choices Coalition.

and the urbanist.

Thank you Councilmember Peterson for recognizing the importance of discussing this legislation in advance of the Seattle Transportation Levy, the Seattle Transportation Levy funding conversation.

We hope that our council will support this important legislation so that we can make our city accessible for everyone.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Gordon Padelford followed by Aaron Musser.

Go ahead, Gordon.

Good morning, Councilmembers.

My name is Gordon Padelford.

I'm the Executive Director of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

We work to make every neighborhood a great place to walk, bike, and live, and I'm here to enthusiastically support this legislation.

I just want to share my gratitude to Councilmember Strauss and Director of S.

Greg Spatz for their work.

to get sidewalk safety improvements into the 15th Ave Northwest repaving project.

But I think that's a really prime example of the way we shouldn't do things.

It shouldn't require last minute leadership to implement sidewalk safety improvements in our major repaving projects.

It's a $16 million repaving project.

So just to underline one thing Ana was saying about the next levy, we need to make sure that as we're scoping these projects, we're thinking about the whole right of way.

We're not thinking about curb to curb.

We're thinking about the fact that people are going to be walking, biking, driving, rolling in the whole right of way.

And as we're going out and we're ripping up this entire street, the people of Seattle are going to expect that we're going to make it safe and accessible for folks to walk and roll to where they need to go.

So this is a really common sense piece of legislation, and I'm really I'm thrilled that you all are pushing it forward right now.

It's a critical time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Aaron Musser, followed by our last speaker, Madeline Jones.

For the record my name is Erin Musser and I appreciate you being here to listen to my words today.

I am in absolute positivity about this ordinance about sidewalks and I think for me it comes down to consistency.

and three levels.

First, when I'm walking out with some friends and we see a sidewalk that is in disrepair, my friends will say, the city really needs to do something about this.

And I say, it's not that simple.

And they say, well, explain it to me.

I have no idea how to explain to them because it is so confusing.

Are property owners responsible?

The city?

I think there should be some very consistent way of things being smoothly taken care of.

Secondly, after large projects are finished, they fill out all the forms of the ADA laws.

Don't forget I said the word law.

where the cutout should be, what are the specifications for sidewalks, etc.

From what I have heard from people that are in the business, they have a lot of exceptions to the rules, aka loopholes.

When someone is putting in a restaurant and they need to have a hood fan for a particular reason, are there loopholes there?

I don't think so.

And there should not be for ADA recommendations and laws as well.

Why is there no consistency there?

Also, I would love to come home every day without being hit by a car that couldn't see me because I had to go half a block to find the correct cut out.

I would consistently like to come home uninjured.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

And our last speaker is Madeline Jones.

Hello.

I am here to speak on behalf of myself and my friends who couldn't be here today.

I am disabled.

I am a part of the disabilities community in Seattle, and I have worked as a caregiver in this city.

Whilst I am disabled, I am privileged to not rely on mobility aids to get around.

As a caregiver, however, I would commute regularly across this city on foot and on public transportation with my client.

She used a wheelchair.

We were frequently in danger of injury and death due to inaccessible sidewalks.

To cross the street or get around damaged or missing patches of sidewalk, we would have to walk down busy streets alongside fast cars.

When traveling on sidewalks littered with potholes, she would be shaken in her chair as she was pushed over them.

In fact, due to bumpy streets and sidewalks, I have known people to literally lose wheels off their wheelchair.

leaving them, if they were alone, stranded and potentially severely injured.

My client and I were lucky in these situations to have each other.

There are many independent disabled adults who would be trapped if, for example, they crossed a street and the sidewalk on the other side was too damaged to get up.

Cars are ruthless killing machines, especially for people who can't run away from them.

That's what I mean when I say that I'm privileged.

And that is an absolutely unacceptable thing to consider a privilege.

Being able to use sidewalks, not getting run over in the street due to the city's negligence, not losing a wheel and being stuck alone and in danger just because you need to leave the house like every other person in the city.

Inaction in this situation will cause deaths.

By doing nothing, the city would be making itself a dangerous place for its most statistically vulnerable citizens.

All we ask is for equality, and we can't have that.

We can't get down the sidewalk.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, that concludes our list of speakers from the general public.

So we'll go ahead and close the public comment period, and we will move to our first agenda item.

Will the clerk please read the full title of the first agenda item into the record.

Agenda item one, council bill 120657, an ordinance relating to rates and charges for water services of Seattle Public Utilities, revising water rates and charges and credits to low income customers and amending sections 214430, 214440 and 217640 of the Seattle Municipal Code for briefing, discussion and possible vote.

Thank you.

Colleagues, at our last committee meeting, Seattle Public Utilities walked us through their proposed rate increase.

As a reminder, Seattle Public Utilities operates within a set rate path, a set by resolution.

That's for six years for its three main lines of business, water, solid waste, and wastewater.

So today we're talking about the water, drinking water.

We typically see an increase in those rates every year to keep up with rising costs.

The rate increase that Seattle Public Utilities is proposing with this council, however, is significantly less than expected when compared to the current approved rate path.

and it's well below the rate of inflation.

So I'm really proud of Seattle Public Utilities for heeding our calls to prioritize low rates and manage their costs.

I also want to thank the Customer Review Panel for their steadfast efforts and oversight to monitor costs and rates at SPU.

We have, I believe we have with us our City Council Central Staff Analyst, Brian Goodnight.

And he can walk us through a review of the legislation he did before we have a final vote.

Really want to thank Brian for his work, his analysis work on this, and his memo, which is attached to the agenda.

So with that, I'll turn it over to Brian Goodnight.

Thank you, chair and good morning council members.

As you said, council member Peterson, council bill 120657 would revise Seattle Public Utilities or SPUs retail water rates for 2024 through 2026. I won't walk through my entire memo today, but I just want to touch on a few highlights.

So, as a quick refresher, and as the chair just mentioned, the council typically considers rate setting legislation for one of SPUs utilities each year.

And this is the year for the water rates.

Due to the pandemic, the previous update cycle to water rates was interrupted, which led to the Council most recently updating water rates in 2021, rather than in 2020. SPU's water system is primarily supported in 3 ways.

First, by retail water rates charged to residential customers, commercial customers, and public and private fire customers.

And this group makes up the largest portion of water revenues, about 75%, and these rates are the subject of today's legislation.

Second, the system is supported by wholesale water contracts with nearby cities and water districts.

And these are customers that typically own their own separate water delivery systems and assets, but rely on SPU to operate the regional water supply system.

And that makes up about 20% of revenues.

And then finally, the remaining amount consists of other miscellaneous non-rate revenues.

In combination, these revenues are used to cover the cost of the water system and to ensure that SPU is compliant with its financial policies.

In terms of the proposed rates, the executive is proposing to increase retail water rates by 2% each year for the next 3 years, 2024, 2025 and 2026. and as the chair said, these rates are significantly below the rates envisioned in SPU's 2021 strategic business plan, which estimated that the rate increases for those years would fall between 3.5 and 5.5% each year.

As described at the committee's last meeting, the primary driver for these lower rate increases is reduced spending on both operating and capital expenses.

SPU had significant savings over the first three years of the business plan, and the department expects that expenses will continue to be lower than what was assumed in the plan for the next three years as well.

Additionally, SPU was able to take advantage of favorable interest rates by refinancing existing debt to lower rates, which results in annual debt service savings.

And one element from the staff memo that I did want to bring your attention to was the discussion on rate smoothing that occurs on page 4. So the Council has established financial policies for the management and operation of the water system.

The policies address things such as the amount of debt service coverage required, the percentage of capital program costs to be funded with cash, and the minimum cash balance to be kept on hand.

Typically, retail water rates are set to generate a sufficient amount of revenue to cover the water system's costs and to satisfy all of the financial policies.

With the rate increases proposed in Council Bill 120657, however, SPU is not simply meeting the revenue requirement and financial policies, but has recommended rate increases with the intention of smoothing rates over a longer time horizon.

Rate smoothing is used to try to reduce rate volatility and works essentially by increasing rates above the minimum amount required earlier in a rate cycle, which allows future rates to be lower than they would otherwise need to be.

In this instance, in this instance, approval of the proposed rate increases would generate excess revenue for SPU during the 3 year period, which would be used in 2 different ways.

So 1 would be to maintain a cash balance that exceeds financial targets and 2 to increase cash financing of the capital program.

With regard to the cash balance, SPU's planning goal is to maintain a 120 days of operating expense in the water fund, which for 2024 would be approximately 67 million dollars.

The proposed rate package would instead have SPU maintaining a cash balance of 110M dollars in all 3 years.

The excess revenue would also be used to increase cash financing of the capital program by approximately 31.5M dollars over the 3 year period.

And increasing the amount of cash financing reduces the need to borrow for projects, which ultimately lowers overall project costs.

Because of the large cash balance, cash financing of the capital program could be increased even further, but SPU expects that by the end of the decade rates could be large increases to keep up with capital spending.

If sufficient cash isn't kept on hand to buffer the impacts.

And lastly, just in terms of the financial impact for the city, the proposal would generate almost 4.4Million dollars of additional revenue for the water fund in 2024. And due to the city's imposition of a utility tax on retail water revenue, the city's general fund is estimated to receive an additional revenue of approximately $679,000 in 2024. And then similarly sized increases would be expected in 2025 and 2026. And if the committee recommends passage of the legislation today, then the full council could take final action next week at the September 26th meeting.

I'm happy to take any questions.

Thanks.

Thank you very much.

Really appreciate your analysis of this, Brian, and really, again, appreciate SPU keeping these rates lower than anticipated.

So, colleagues, any comments or questions?

This is the second time we've heard this proposed ordinance, so we would like to vote it out of committee today, and, again, it is relatively positive news since the rate is lower than what we had previously proved through the rate path.

And we had a good presentation last time from SPU.

Those materials are available online as we hopefully advance this to the full council for next Tuesday, September 26th.

So just want to make sure we're ready to go here or have any comments or questions for Brian Goodnight or for SPU.

Yes, Council Member Morales.

Thank you.

I was not here at the last meeting, so I wondered, Brian, if you could review slide eight, which is the revenue and expenditure slide, and just talk a little bit about the, just really just for the viewing public, if you can talk a little bit about where revenue comes from, what kind of things we spend it on and what restrictions there might be on spending.

You mentioned some funding going into the general fund.

So I'm just trying to, as we move into a larger budget conversation for the city, get some clarity about our different utilities and what funding is restricted based on those services.

Sure, thanks.

I will take an attempt at answering your question and Carl Sickle, the finance manager for SPU is also on the line.

So maybe he could supplement my answer.

As you said, slide eight here, I can bring it up on the screen for people that didn't see it last time.

Just a moment here, please.

Hopefully you are all able to see that now.

Thank you.

So the this is showing 2022 revenue and then projected expenditures on the right hand side of the screen for the kind of rest of the rate period through 2026. As you can see, so what I was describing is that the 2 blue triangles that you see on the pie chart on the left are commercial and residential.

And those are both part of the retail revenues that SPU receives.

So it makes up about 71% overall.

So that's charged to businesses in the city, single family homes, multifamily, all of that is included in those water rates.

That green portion on the right hand side is wholesale revenues.

And so that's what the city sells to other water districts and cities that operate nearby.

The smaller slices that you see in the corner, the private fire, public fire.

Public fire would be fire hydrants for both the City of Seattle and other nearby jurisdictions that operate them.

And private fire is for fire suppression systems that are on people's private property.

So those costs are in addition to the typical service that they would pay.

If you're a business, you pay commercial rates, plus you pay the private fire on top of that.

And then other are those kind of non-rate revenue, so the fees, charges, rentals, that sort of thing.

So all of this revenue is restricted, can only be used for operation of the water system.

The utility tax that I talked about is the City is authorized to charge.

It does this for power, for City Light, it does it for the water system, for drainage, And for solid waste as well.

So the city taxes, the retail revenue.

So just the blue portions of the chart at 15.54%, and that money goes into the general fund.

So it's the, it's kind of the city of Seattle taxing the utility.

Taxes are also applied to private utility operators in the city.

In this instance, the utility operator is the city.

So it's one fund paying the other fund.

So you'll see on the right hand side of the chart, this taxes amount.

So that portion is money that's going to either the state or to the city general fund and wouldn't be used for operation of the water system, but goes into the general fund for the ones that go to the city.

And the rest of the revenues are used just for the operation of the water system.

And Carl, I don't know if you would like to add anything to that.

No, I think you covered it well.

Thanks, Brian.

Great.

Thank you.

Thanks, Brian.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any more comments or questions about this council bill that we hope to vote on right now?

Okay.

Well, we'll go ahead and vote on this.

We'll be sending it to the full city council next Tuesday, September 26th.

So I'll go ahead and do the parliamentary procedure.

Council members, I now move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 120657, item one on our agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the Council Bill.

Any final comments or questions before we move to a vote?

Okay.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to pass the Council Bill?

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Strauss?

Yes.

Mayor Paterson?

Yes.

Three in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation to pass the council bill will be sent to the September 26th City Council meeting.

Thanks again to Seattle Public Utilities and to Brian Goodnight and now that it's safely moved on, I'll quick 30 second plug for the bill we have to repeal the water tax that the city government charges.

And I think that's about $40 million a year.

So that'll help also to bring bills down if we wanna go that direction, ideally as early as the fall budget review process.

All right, will the clerk please read the full title of the second agenda item into the record?

Agenda item two, Council Bill 120661, an ordinance relating to Seattle Public Utilities updating the Solid Waste Code to establish an administrative enforcement process using notices of violation, adding a new section 2136921 to the Seattle Municipal Code, and amending sections 2136420, 2136920, and 2136922 of the Seattle Municipal Code for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you.

This legislation is aimed to help curb illegal dumping in the city of Seattle and Seattle Public Utilities is proposing a simple administrative process and fee schedule to address this.

Thank you in advance.

Brian, good night from central staff for your review of the legislation.

Brian, do you have any opening remarks before we turn it over to SPU?

Thank you, Chair.

I do not.

So happy to turn it over and let them

to the presentation.

Thanks.

Thank you very much.

All right, I think we have our presenters.

Lee, Idrees, Daniel, good morning.

Hello, good morning city council members.

Thank you for having us this morning.

Today we're here to get a vote on our Seattle litter code update.

That code is SP number, it's going to be up in A second here while we're waiting for that to come up, I wanted to give a little background.

This is to review the proposed council bill number 120661. There's been alarming statistics to tell a compelling story in Seattle.

Our city has witnessed the 300% increase in illegal dumping over the past 9 years.

In 2009, there were approximately 5000 illegal dumping incidences and 2022, it skyrocketed to over 22,000.

This trend is unsustainable and required SPU to reevaluate the fines and penalties associated with littering to make them more effective deterrence.

Our current enforcement mechanisms often fall short, leading to.

this high increase in illegal dumping over the years.

We want to lead with this education in enforcement because we know that by imposing stricter penalties, we can emphasize the importance of seriousness of illegal dumping and its impact on our environment.

So today I'm going to hand it over to Lee Mamone, who's going to walk us through the proposed changes and updating some of the language in the bill and also talk a little bit about the notice of violation process.

Thank you Drees.

So one of the proposed changes that SPU does not currently have an effective enforcement mechanism.

So our proposed ordinance today gives SPU a new enforcement tool by authorizing the utility to issue notices of violations and penalties for illegal dumping.

The current SMC code enforcement provision relies on criminal and civil infraction.

The code also requires infraction to be filed with the Seattle Municipal Court.

This legislation focuses on adding a proven tool that SDOT and SPU are effectively using to enforce code violations without having to issue tickets or rely on the Seattle Municipal Court for enforcement and by using education to deter illegal dumping.

So our proposed will conduct establish we can go to the next slide please.

So our proposed enforcement process SPU will conduct an investigation by our program managers or one of our three illegal dumping inspectors and may issue a notice of violation.

A notice of violation for illegal dumping requires a photo of the vehicle license plate or three or more items bearing the name of the individual.

An inspection of the area to ensure photos, videos, and other documentation requirements will be reviewed to determine appropriate fines and cleanup fees.

A deterrent letter may be issued to the responsible party If we do not have those three items bearing their name or picture of the vehicle and the person dumping, this will kind of be like a letter of a warning letter for them that we see.

If we have all the hard facts of who we believe are the responsible party or the registered owner of the vehicle identified during the investigation, the notice of violation will be sent.

What we really want is a dialogue with the offender.

If this is their first offense and it's not egregious, we will work with them and we'll just give them a warning.

Our goal is education first and then enforcement when needed.

Doing nothing has increased our illegal dumping complaints from around 5,000, like Idris said, in 2009 to over 27,000 reports a year in 2022 and just under a million pounds of illegal dumping collected off the right of way here in Seattle.

Next slide, please.

So the current penalties.

Current penalties are complicated and confusing.

The proposed code changes and simplifies these are much easier to enforce.

So the fees are unclear.

Not often utilized, they're outdated.

As you see on the screen, they use cubic feet.

We don't use cubic feet, we use pounds.

It's a little bit easier to determine than versus just cubic foot.

It's difficult to interpret and challenging to enforce.

The notice of violation process that we're adding is a proven enforcement tool that has been used by SDOT and SPU.

And again, our goal is not to get money from the one time dumper that didn't know any better, or couldn't afford to go to the station.

We want to change the behavior and let them know about programs that the city has like a dump voucher for low income residents.

It's also an opportunity to educate them on other low income programs the city has to help our low income residents.

Again, education and changing behavior is our goal, not taking the money away from working families.

So, in this code, the current penalty is again.

2 times clean up costs and disposal costs and $50 per cubic foot a little bit cumbersome trying to really navigate through that.

And go to the next slide please.

The proposed penalties.

Studies have, as we said, studies have shown that if there's no repercussions for the dumper, then behavior continues.

So we offer a penalty that we hope gets the illegal dumper's attention and stops them from doing it again.

So the way this works is the base fee is $100 up to 400 pounds and no previous similar violations.

The second is a base fee, one or more previous violations within past 12 months, and that's $500 up to 400 pounds.

Once they have 400 pounds, it will be an additional $200 plus base fee and cleanup costs.

Once it's over 400 pounds up to 1,000, it's 500, and base fee and cleanup times 1,000 pounds up to three times, again, 1,500 pounds.

So again, I wanna stress one more time, if the illegal dumper calls us or responds to the notice of violation, and it's their first offense, we will lead with education and not a fine.

Changing behavior is our goal, not finding the first time offender.

We lead with compassion and what we hope is through these conversations, we can get a grasp on why people illegally dump in the first place.

One of the goals of this ordinance is a change as what does go after one of what we call the opportunistic dump.

They're the legal dumper that usually does not live in the neighborhood that they dump in.

They may work in Seattle and live somewhere else in another city or neighborhood, but what they hope and maybe even know is that the relationship with the BIPOC community and law enforcement is strained.

And typically, people of color will not call the police if they see someone illegally dumping in the neighborhood, as long as it's not on their property, right?

So typically, what happens in these remote locations like Detroit Ave, Southwest, where they dump demo construction projects and charge their clients maybe extra funds for a dump fee that they don't end up using.

So they leave the kitchen sink, the drywall, and all those other demo out there on the streets of Seattle.

and other dumpers that dump near encampments as if they're really helping them by giving them a couch or a table that they don't want.

So lastly, this is our goal, education, but we also have a mechanism in the code to change, to go after those that wanna abuse the system.

With the hearing officer as their final call on the penalty, he or she can decide that this illegal dumper has been in front of me multiple times, or that the items that they dumped are so egregious that we can levy a heavier fine.

That way, so yes, so we do leave with compassion, but we're also not a pushover either.

We think it's time to change the behavior in the city of Seattle and hold those individuals and businesses accountable to their legal dumping activity.

So we do not see another 300 plus percent rise in illegal dumping calls in the next few years.

Thank you for your time today, and we'll now take any questions.

Thank you very much.

I wanted to ask Brian Goodnight if he had any comments or questions to add at this point.

I do not.

Thank you, Chair.

Okay.

So, you know, I received a briefing on this last week, and I'm very comfortable with it, you know, adding this administrative tool for SPU, which has seen how this works or doesn't work in reality, and to, so they have this ability to help deter illegal dumping.

So, I just want to do, check with colleagues to make sure they're okay advancing this out of committee today.

One of the things we can do is instead of sending it to September 26th full council, we can send it to October 3rd or October 12th.

But I'm comfortable voting for this today.

Let me know if you have any comments or questions.

Yeah, Council Member Morales.

Thank you for this presentation.

I will say, first of all, that I see lots of dumping in the South End, so I know that this is a huge issue.

You know, we did a lot of work putting bike trails up in the Chistie green space, for example, and every time I went out there, it was pointed out to me the fence that people dump washing machines and all kinds of other things.

So I completely understand that this is an issue we have to figure out how to resolve.

And I just have some questions about how we how we catch people, because you have mentioned, you know, sometimes multiple violations.

And so I'm interested if you can give some examples about how the investigation works, you know, how you identify somebody who's dumping, you know, you have footage.

Can you just talk a little bit about how you know who's doing it and how you would enforce it?

Yeah, so what we are hoping to depend on is the Find It, Fix It app.

And what we have in there is for people to be able to, they can take a picture of the legal dumping and hopefully they can, if they get a license plate, they can add the license plate number in there.

Hopefully a picture of the person dumping, if they feel safe doing that as one of the tools or people calling into our customer service line and reporting that they've seen somebody illegally dumping there.

And then we, again, that's where the three pieces of identifiable mail or something in that pile or a picture really helps the investigation.

Can I ask another question?

Oh yeah, please.

So you also mentioned, and we have heard repeatedly about people coming to either donate their stuff to encampments or really just coming and dumping things with the assumption that it would be just, you know, associated with an encampment rather than somebody coming from outside.

So can you talk about how you would address the illegal dumping by housed people at encampments and how you can ensure that, you know, The folks who are having stuff dumped in their space aren't interrupted or don't get the sort of city interference when they aren't the ones who were contributing that, at least those loads of trash.

Yeah, I could take this one.

And that's a great question.

We call it opportunistic illegal dumping.

And we've done some research around this in the past, understanding the impacts that our unhoused population are having on other folks utilizing their space as a dumping space.

And we lead into that with compassion.

Oftentimes, our unhoused populations, they inform us of the people that are dumping.

So one, we create a trash service at those unhoused locations to make sure that It's not accumulating for the folks that are living on house.

Additionally, what we'll do is then reach out to the folks that are violating and dumping on the site and just educate them like, hey, these are the appropriate channels to go through.

If you do want to donate, there's other ways to go about donating.

So that education on the front end is really important for us.

However, if it's something that is egregious, we've seen some.

organizations not organizations but small outfitters dump a bunch of debris and so forth and that's when we'll go ahead and um go down the notice of violation and pose and find some penalties for those dumpers.

And then I guess just one more question um you may not have this data or information or maybe you do but I'm curious if Presumably, there are many reasons why people choose to dump in this way.

Do you know why people do it this way?

Is it a matter of convenience?

Is it that taking stuff to the transfer station or landfill is too expensive?

Do you know why this is happening?

Well, we could assume it's a combination of what you just mentioned.

And that's why it's important for us to also do that education campaign.

We think some folks don't even know that it's illegal to dump in the city of Seattle Thinking that it's just an option for them to dump things in areas and put free couch and other things of that sort So the education component is going to be really important But we think it's folks just not wanting to pay the transfer station fees and others as you mentioned the matter of convenience Thank you Thank You councilmember

Any other comments or questions?

Okay, why don't we, what I'm gonna do is I'll move to send us to the October 3rd city council meeting.

I'm really pleased to see that Seattle Public Utilities has researched this to figure out, you know, we're not, the current system's just not working.

We're relying on the Seattle Police Department and the municipal court system that they need this additional administrative enforcement tool and then they're adding this education component so I think it's where we're seeing the city government trend on on all sorts of things and so really appreciate the hard work that went into this and you know we've got the budget where we're not able to have a committee during the budget process typically so we'll give that extra week of having this bill out in the public realm and But we'll go ahead and advance it out of our committee because it's good work.

And I think that we should move it forward.

So I'll make the motion to send it to our October 3rd meeting.

Any comments or questions from committee members about that?

Okay, Council Members, I now move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 120661 item 2 on our agenda to go to the October 3rd City Council meeting.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the Council Bill out of this committee.

Any final comments or questions before we vote?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to pass Council Bill 120661 to go to the October 3rd City Council meeting.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Chair Peterson.

Yes.

Three in favor, none opposed.

Excellent, the motion carries and the committee recommendation to pass the council will be sent to the October 3rd city council meeting.

Thank you very much to Brian Goodnight, central staff, and to Seattle Public Utilities.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

All right, will the clerk please read the full title of the third agenda item?

Agenda item three, Council Bill 120658, an ordinance relating to sidewalk construction and pedestrian mobility improvements, adding a new section 157040 to the Seattle Municipal Code for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you.

This legislation is sponsored by Council Member Morales, so let's turn it over to you for some opening remarks before we hear from central staff.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you so much, Chair Peterson.

Thanks for making time on this committee schedule.

I know it's a busy time as we try to wrap things up before budget.

So I'm really here with many of our community members who've been advocating for this legislation.

I do want to thank them for bringing this bill to my office.

We really co-created this together, particularly Disability Rights Washington, former Mayor and current Executive Director of AmericaWalks, Mike McGinn, former SDOT Director, Sam Zimbabwe, Noah Ahn, who was here, from Seattle, and formerly of Councilmember Straus' office, Smart Growth America, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, and many others, local and national mobility advocates and organizations.

So I want to talk just for a moment about why so many organizations are asking for this change.

I've said before, here in Seattle, about 25% of our streets lack sidewalks, while we have almost 4,000 miles of roadway for cars in the city.

Knowing that one in three Americans can't drive, and we're talking about disabled folks, elders, kids, people who can't afford a car, all are forced to navigate through our city on dangerous roads that don't meet their mobility needs.

We have areas of the city with the fewest sidewalks, the South End, District 2, District 5. And in the case of District 2, these are the areas of town that also experience elevated pedestrian vehicle collisions and death.

Many of our sidewalks are in disrepair.

They have uneven surfaces, as we heard from the public comment this morning, or missing curb ramps that make it hard for people who are using mobility devices and parents using strollers to navigate the city.

We know that sidewalks are essential public infrastructure and they provide a public good.

They enable mobility for everyone regardless of age or ability or income.

something that car infrastructure doesn't do, but we've got more public on-street parking in the city than we have miles of sidewalk in the city.

And this is important because the lack of safe and comfortable mobility infrastructure doesn't just put people in danger.

We know that it is also socially isolating for people who can't get around due to disability or health or age.

And if there's anything we've learned over the past few years, it's that social isolation is a public health issue.

Isolation itself puts a strain on people's mental health and can jeopardize their lives.

So there are a lot of reasons for this bill, and I'm really excited about having co-created it with these advocates.

I want to go through just a few things of what this bill does.

It would require sidewalks and maintenance of existing sidewalks to be included in new repaving projects.

This is in line with former Councilmember O'Brien's bill to include non-motorized mobility lanes, also known as bike lanes, in road repaving projects and closely resembles sidewalk regulations in Washington, D.C. Our bill requires an inventory and report of road repaving projects to be presented to council by February of each year, and requires a report from the SDOT director on why they would elect not to install sidewalks in particular projects, including how they will still mitigate safety and accessibility issues.

Additionally, my office and our advocates are pursuing this change ahead of the Seattle transportation plan and the levy renewal as a way for us to set the benchmark for sidewalk funding in the next transportation levy.

As it stands right now, our sidewalk installation and repair budget is very small.

And though my office has been able to win over 20 new blocks of sidewalks for District 2 through the budget process, advocates shouldn't have to ask for this basic investment every year.

Funding sidewalks through the annual budget process is unpredictable and it's inefficient.

And setting this benchmark now will allow us to better fund this crucial piece of public infrastructure that provides the equitable access to mobility that streets that are solely made for cars do not provide.

Lastly, for awareness, SDOT has proposed a technical amendment to this bill.

We received that amendment last week, which is why it's not on the agenda today.

So I do want to signal that the amendment is a friendly amendment.

It's a small technical change of my own.

And if my colleagues have any questions about that, please feel free to ask Cal for more information.

And again, I just want to thank you, Chair, for getting this onto the agenda before we close out the year.

Thank you, Councilman Morales.

I support this bill, and we can hear from Calvin Chow, Central Staff, next.

He's got a presentation, I believe, and then we can talk about whatever the best timing is for you and the advocates on this.

Thank you.

Good morning, Councilmembers.

Kelvin Chao with Council Central staff.

I have a very short presentation.

Councilmember Morales has done a very thorough job of describing the legislation, but very quickly, this does, the legislation was drafted for Councilmember Morales' office and does really respond to the missing 11,000 blocks of sidewalks and the known 154,000 instances of sidewalk deficiencies that the city has documented.

The legislation does really two things.

It establishes new sidewalk requirements in the code, as Council Member Morales went into detail, requires that sidewalks go at least one side of the street as part of major paving projects, and that an evaluation of the sidewalk conditions and correcting the identified deficiencies be a part of that work as well.

There is provisions to allow the SDOT director to determine when full compliance is not possible.

And it requires that the director report annually to council on what those projects are and when those projects could not reach full compliance.

The second part of the legislation also establishes sidewalk installation priorities for non-major pavement projects.

And so this prioritizes areas that, locations where pedestrian movement is impaired, where there are problems accessing schools, parks and recreational facilities, transit stops, and additionally areas with high density land uses and equity priority areas where there is a risk of displacement.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any technical questions.

The friendly amendment that was referenced really is more in line with some clarifying edits, adding some words that the prioritization is not intended to cover sort of the simple pothole repair emergency response type of maintenance work, in addition to just some reordering of sections for clarity.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any comments or questions about central staff's presentation?

And then in terms of timing, you know, we do have our next, if we don't have a special transportation committee meeting during the two month budget review process, October, November, if we don't have one, if we do have one, we could hear this.

If we don't have one, Then December 5 would be our next regularly scheduled meeting, but you know, we've already heard the bill today So we should be able to vote it out of that committee on December 5 and then hear it and then have the City Council prove it As early as that next Tuesday December 12, so we get it done before the end of the calendar year Is that something that works for you councilmember?

I?

Yeah, I think that would be, that'd be great.

Thank you.

Okay.

And then in terms of the amendment, I mean, will that be ready in the next, will that be ready this week or in case, in case we were to have a special transportation committee meeting?

I think, Cal, that that's doable.

Yes.

Yes.

The amendment is drafted.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, we don't have anything scheduled right now.

So, okay, well good, this is exciting.

You know, during our budget review process, I know we'll be, as you mentioned, Council Member, it's not fair for us to have to advocate for sidewalks during the budget because it's such a basic infrastructure need.

But I'll be there to help advocate for that this fall as needed.

So, hopefully, the mayor's Budget that we receive has a robust investment in sidewalks There are ways to do that.

You don't have to rely just on the move Seattle property tax that's currently in place But but there are choices that have to be made and so And we'll also be talking about new revenue sources You know, this is one of the reasons I support transportation impact fees as it gives us this other option And right now we're trying to get over a procedural hurdle on transportation-backed fees to simply amend our comp plan, which we hope to do on November 21st so that then we can have that discussion about that revenue source.

And there are other revenue sources we can consider as well.

So lots to do here on sidewalks and revenue.

All right.

Well, with that, I guess we'll just move to the next item on the agenda.

Okay, all right.

Will the clerk please read the full title of the fourth agenda item?

Agenda item four, council bill 120642, an ordinance relating to street and sidewalk use amending the street use fee schedule authorized by section 15474 of the Seattle Municipal Code for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you.

Colleagues, you'll remember Council Bill 120642 from our last committee meeting on September 5, our previous committee meeting September 5. It's back in committee today for final discussion and vote.

Very choked up about this.

As you'll recall, this is a proposal from our Seattle Department of Transportation.

to temporarily eliminate fees for food trucks, vending carts, and smaller sidewalk activities.

While this measure has often been reported along with the Downtown Activation Plan ideas, it would actually be a citywide policy, though according to the fiscal note, the city would forego revenue of only $140,000 or so for each 12-month period, and these fees would be set to resume January 1, I want to thank Calvin Chow from our Council Central staff for his review of this legislation.

Calvin, I wanted to know if you had any remarks about this legislation.

No, council members, this is similar to some of the city's approach to these permits during the COVID pandemic.

And I don't have any further comments.

Okay.

And we do have, you know, even though we had our full presentation last time, you know, there's opportunity for amendments, which we didn't have any.

And we do have Seattle Department of Transportation here to answer any final questions before we proceed to a vote.

Colleagues, are there any comments or questions about this item we're hearing for a second time today?

Okay.

Well, then I'll go ahead and start the parliamentary procedure to vote this item out of our committee today.

Council members, I now move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 120642, item four on our agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the council bill.

Any final comments or questions before we vote?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to pass the council bill?

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Three in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, the motion carries and the committee recommendation to pass this council bill will be sent to the September 26th city council meeting.

Thank you very much, Calvin Chow and Estat for being here again.

All right, will the clerk please read the full title of the item five into the record, which is a draft ordinance.

agenda item five, an ordinance relating to tree protections, adding new provisions related to trees that are part of an archeological site, and amending sections 251160 and 2511130 of the Seattle Municipal Code for briefing and discussion.

Thank you, colleagues.

As I mentioned at council briefing, we heard lots of requests for action among those who rallied to successfully defend that magnificent cedar tree they called Luma, saving that from chainsaws in north Seattle, and I took time to during council recess to draft a very brief bill to deal with this issue.

And so this bill was crafted in consultation with the Snoqualmie tribe.

to prevent more threats to such important trees.

We heard today a public comment from the chair of the Snoqualmie Tribe, and we've received emails as well from tree advocates over the last 24 hours encouraging us to take action on this.

There have been some scheduling issues, and so Hoping that we can get this bill on to the introduction and referral calendar so that it can be Officially discussed and deliberated and amended if needed So I really want to thank all the people who wrote to us and who called in and appreciate the public comment today, as well, that we heard directly from the Snoqualmie Tribe.

And based on guidance from Tim Raynon of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, who's our Director of Tribal Relations, I also provided the legislation to other federally recognized Seattle-based tribes, Muckleshoot and Suquamish, tribal leadership and connected with their offices as well.

So I think it's important to just daylight this legislation, kickstart it here, and so we do have a presentation.

Really appreciate central staff.

their hard work on this issue for so long, and then on this bill, which was a short bill, and getting city attorney offices' approval for the bill as well.

So I presented this also to the Urban Forestry Commission a couple of weeks ago, and the State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation was contacted about the bill as well.

So, let's go ahead and have central staff do their presentation.

Currently, this bill is in our Legistar system as a TMP file, TMP 9902. It's just four pages long, and hopefully we can get this onto the IRC soon.

Thank you, Yolanda.

Good morning.

Good morning, Chair.

Yolanda Ho, Council Central staff.

So my intent here today is to provide an overview of Council Member Peterson's draft legislation that would amend the city's regulations for trees on private property to include consideration of trees on archaeological sites.

I will go over the background of the legislation and describe the draft, which is attached to the agenda, and discuss some potential issues.

So, earlier this year in May, the council passed ordinance 126821 that comprehensively updated the city's regulations for trees on private property.

I will not go through all of that, but I wanted to note some key changes that were adopted as part of that legislation.

There was a new tree naming convention.

For example, exceptional trees are now tier two trees.

There were expanded protections for trees beginning at 24 inches at diameter at standard height or DSH by including them in the tier two category.

Previously, regulations had provided additional protections for trees 30 inches DSH and greater.

It increased restrictions on tree removal on developed lots, created an in-lieu fee option for tree replacement, and increased the number of trees that were required to be replaced.

And it also established a new lot coverage standard for lots undergoing development and low rise mid rise commercial and Seattle mix zones to help identify trees that can be retained in those that may need to be removed earlier in the development process.

Previously, lots in these zones had used a floor area ratio to determine tree retention and removal.

In July, as the chair noted, the public became aware of the planned removal of a large double-trunked Western red cedar for development in Wedgwood.

But before it was removed, it was assessed as a culturally modified tree, which is regulated as an archaeological site by the states.

And just for a little background on culturally modified trees, which are also known as CMTs, These are trees that have been modified as part of the traditional practices of indigenous people, and they are some of our region's oldest and largest trees.

Some examples of modifications are peeling bark to be used for baskets, textiles, and construction materials, training branches for wayfinding and to mark important locations, and carving symbols, letters, and other markings into the bark.

Regulations for archaeological sites are in Chapter 2752 of the Revised Code of Washington, are administered by the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, also known as DAHP.

And I will be referring to that agency as DAHP from here on out.

DHP is required to consult with affected tribes to develop permitting guidelines before granting permission for any disturbance to an archaeological site.

The city does not currently have a process for verifying whether a tree is part of an archaeological site before approving its removal.

On to the summary of the draft legislation.

So, The legislation would establish a process for verifying whether a tree is part of an archaeological site.

So what would happen is that the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, also known as SDCI, would notify DAHP if a permit applicant is seeking to remove a Tier 2 or Tier 3 tree.

Basically, this is any tree over 12 inches in diameter at standard height.

DHP would then let SDCI know whether the tree is part of an archaeological site.

If the tree is not part of an archaeological site, SDCI may permit its removal.

If the tree is part of an archaeological site and the permit applicant still wants to remove the tree, the permit applicant is responsible for obtaining approval for the tree's removal from DHP before SDCI may approve its removal.

And the legislation would also add a definition for culturally modified tree to chapter 2511. No questions, I'll keep moving.

So there's a couple of potential issues for the committee's consideration with this proposed legislation.

First one is around administration of these regulations.

This could potentially increase the workload at SDCI and DAHP.

which could result in delays to SDCI's permit processing times.

Because what would happen is that SDCI staff would have to wait until they heard back from DHP before proceeding with completing their tree review.

If the tree is part of an archeological site, the applicant would then have to apply to DHP for permission to remove the tree before SDCI could make any decisions about tree removal.

the Council could add positions and funding to SDCI to accommodate the increased workload, but would be unable to address capacity issues at DHP, which is a state agency.

Alternatively, which would serve the same purpose, but you could instead shift this responsibility to the permit applicant.

So the applicant would be providing SDCI with confirmation that they had verified and obtained permission for removal, if needed, from DHP.

This would be more consistent with SDCI's current practices with other state laws.

For example, SDCI requires applicants proposing development in fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas to consult with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and to comply with any requirements or otherwise show that their plan has been approved by the state agency.

This could help reduce the burden on SDCI.

but DAHP's turnaround time could still be a limiting factor that impacts permit processing times, and thus delay construction of projects.

The next issue is related, but separate, is that the types of trees that are subjected to this verification process.

As mentioned previously, CMTs would be some of our region's oldest and largest trees.

So including all Tier 2 and Tier 3 trees may be overly broad.

That is, trees that are 12 inches at diameter, standard height, and greater.

SDCI estimates that there are somewhere around 70,400 trees that are 12 inches DSH, diameter, standard height, and greater on lots in single-family, multifamily, and commercial zones.

So that is the number of trees that would be subject to this process or thereabouts.

Additionally, there are some tree species that are more likely than others to be culturally modified in Pacific Northwest, and this list is from Oregon Department of Transportation, so may not completely reflect what is relevant to Seattle, but those species are Douglas Fir, Incense Cedar, Oregon White Oak, Paper Birch, Ponderosa Pine, Quaking Aspen, Western Hemlock, Western Larch, Western Juniper, and the Western Red Cedar.

To limit the number of trees subject to this verification process, there could be more specificity about the types of trees.

This could be accomplished by establishing a director's role that is developed in consultation with tribes to identify species and size thresholds.

So, for instance, any plan that involves a Western Red Cedar of at least 50 inches diameter standard height would need to be verified as a culturally modified tree.

Before moving forward, so this could also help to reduce workload impacts for both and.

And that was my very brief presentation questions.

Thank you very much, Yolanda.

And again, this is just on this agenda as a draft ordinance.

It's not officially introduced.

We, you know, there are some interesting issues to discuss and potentially amend as long as it's, you know, with, as part of the consultation process.

All the more reason to get it on the introduction and referral calendar, get it moving.

So that we can have that we can daylight that debate some of the information from STCI is sort of coming through Behind the scenes and I think it's it would be great to daylight that as well and so I hope to try to get this on to the introduction referral calendar so we can put it through its its It's a regular process.

As you can see, it's already written in consultation with the Snoqualmie tribe and reached out and connected with the Muckleshoot and Suquamish tribes as well.

And so we just want to, you know, they're expecting us to show some, take some action and show some forward momentum here and to, you know, if the city department has recommendations to daylight those, have it all out in the public realm for discussion.

We did talk to the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation at the state, and they're ready to respond quickly to any requests like this from the city.

And so look forward to trying to advance this.

Colleagues, any comments or questions here before we move on to the other items on our agenda?

Okay, thank you, Yolanda, appreciate it.

All right, let's go ahead, we've got some, one of the most exciting things on our agenda here today is the appointments to the advisory board.

So will the clerk go ahead and read the full title of items six through 10 into the record.

Agenda items 6 through 10. Appointments 2661 through 2664 and 2678. Appointments of Herb Crone, Eric Nielsen, and Waylon Robert, and reappointments of Daniel J. Kelly and Eric Wright as members to the Seattle Freight Advisory Board for terms to May 31st, 2025 for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you.

Okay.

So I think we're going to hear from our Seattle Department of Transportation liaison first, Aline Trang.

And we're going to introduce the nominees who are able to be here.

Again, colleagues, you know, this is a mix of things.

So we've got several advisory boards.

We've grouped them together on the agenda to be efficient.

We'll be able to hear from anybody about, you know, why they're interested in serving.

And we can ask questions.

Just for the viewing public, you know, council members have already reviewed appointment packets and resumes of these applicants.

Some of them are reappointments.

So, if we're not doing exhaustive interviews on TV here, it's because we've already done that due diligence to review these applicants.

We really, just to start off, want to thank everybody for wanting to volunteer and agreeing to volunteer so they can provide their expertise on the different modes of travel through the city and to keep us moving in an environmentally friendly way, in a safe way.

And we've got the Seattle transportation plan.

draft that's out there for public review right now.

Comments are due in the next 30 days on the Seattle Transportation Plan, which attempts to synthesize all the different modes of travel.

But we have these individual areas of expertise with freight and bike and ped and transit, and so we're going to appoint these folks today to these advisory committees.

Do we have Aileen here with us today?

Yes, there she is.

Hello.

Hi.

So thank you, Chair Peterson.

So the Freight Advisory Board brings together people familiar with the freight industry and its impact to help Seattle better understand the needs of commercial vehicles for goods movement.

Their work includes design review and advising the city on freight policy.

Today we have two reappointments and three new appointments to the board.

Great.

And we've got somebody here with us, too.

We've got an appointee here with us today.

Do you want to pull the microphone?

Is there a green light on in the middle there at the base?

If not, you just press the little button down there.

Okay.

And then pull that really close.

And we can just go through the different appointees and hear, you know, why you want to serve and then what you hope to bring to this advisory committee.

We'll start with the person who showed up right here at City Council Chambers.

Good morning.

Good morning council members and Chair Peterson.

I'm Herb Crown.

I'm actually one of your constituents and sorry to see you leave.

I've been I was a city employee for many years in the warrant unit of the city and I've been working for Union Pacific Railroad since 2003. I worked for the BNSF moonlighting when I worked for the city.

I'm a brake person, switch person, conductor.

I am the local chairperson for Union Pacific employees in the area between Seattle and Tacoma, and I'm also the current state legislative director for railroad workers on all the carriers.

within Washington State.

My interests are primarily, or my expertise is primarily in rail transportation, but I live in the city, I live in the University District, and transportation and effective movement of goods is a very important and critical issue that I think everybody learned the importance of during the pandemic and the ability to move freight.

I just hope to be a voice of reason, and the issues that I noted this morning, I attended the Freight Advisory Board hearing for the first time.

The issues around the 1st Avenue and 4th Avenue overpasses over Union Pacific's rail yard where concrete is crumbling and falling down, and we're very concerned that one of our members who's working in the rail yard could get hurt or killed by this concrete.

And I know there's been a lot of difficulty in getting Union in get in getting cooperation between the city and Union Pacific and I hope to be able to foster that and help move those projects along those are very important and of course, we're always interested in in grade separation projects and things to make both people in cars pedestrians and and rail workers safer and When we have car collisions at crossings, often it can be devastating, not only for the people in the vehicles, but also for the crew members.

Some never come back after critical incidents like that.

I'm happy to share my expertise and want to support the movement of freight and the city and work on these issues and be a person who can be used as a valuable resource when you need information about rail operations and how the railroads function.

Thank you very much for being here today and your willingness to give the City Hall your expertise on this.

It's gonna be really valuable for the issues you mentioned.

And so, want to go back to Aileen to see, do we have any other of the Freight Advisory Board appointees here with us today?

Do you wanna, if so, you wanna call on them to let us know why they'd like to serve and what they hope to get out of it.

Yes, so Eric Nielsen is also in, and I think he's popped up, so I'll let him take over.

Morning chair Pearson and other council members.

I'm so excited to be here to nominated for this position.

I am a 25 year old residing now in the Mount Baker neighborhood.

I know it says Capitol Hill.

I'm still in district 3, but I just recently moved actually closer to a marginalized area historically underrepresented and disproportionately affected by freight movement.

I.

I feel like I come with a set of perspectives that the Freight Advisory Board hasn't had a lot recently, which is particularly young people, people in neighborhoods that are disproportionately affected by freight movement, where the zoning has allowed industry and residences to be in close proximity.

And now in South Seattle, I'm getting to experience that firsthand.

But I also studied supply chain at the University of Washington.

I recently graduated in 2020. And so I have a relatively fresh background, understanding the academic research behind freight movements.

I've analyzed a lot of what the great work that the UW Urban Freight Mobility Lab has put together.

I studied a lot of the economics behind e-commerce and the rapid rise of at-home delivery for shopping.

And I recognize the important value that freight has in our communities.

It's the driver of our entire society.

And we have to enable it, we have to advance it, we have to figure out how freight is going to coexist with our Vision Zero and Net Zero policies.

They are totally incompatible with each other.

And I don't think we have to make sacrifices for our economy to be able to reach these vision zero and net zero goals.

And figuring out how we can utilize freight in maybe a smarter and more innovative way as the innovative tech forward city we are to build that economic driver that small businesses need and residents need to be able to receive the goods that they They need on a daily basis, while still figuring out how can we make it safer for everyone for all users of all.

of our city streets, whether they're in vehicles or not.

And we also have to figure out how we can utilize the latest technology with electrification to reduce vehicle miles traveled, including for freight goods and reduce our carbon emissions and other pollutants that do have a disproportionate effect on communities that have not been well represented before on boards like this.

So I'm really excited to be able to bridge that gap between the importance of the economic driver that freight provides and also for the understanding of the impacts that it has on our communities and how we can make it really a better place to live for everybody.

Thank you very much.

And Waylon Roberts, was he able to make it?

So Waylon was not able to make it.

Waylon has worked on freight policy issues on both the state and regional levels.

and has personal experience in the maritime industry.

And in fact, he's unable to make it because he's out at sea currently.

Thank you.

Yes, I think we've received some emails supporting Waylon Robert as well.

And so we've got a great mix of experience here and perspective.

So and this is so we'll be voting on these as a group.

And then and then going to the the next.

Do we have one more person?

We have got the two reappointments.

There's a two reappointments.

Reappointment of Daniel Kelly and reappointment of Eric Wright.

Okay.

Good.

So we're going to group all these together.

Colleagues, any comments or questions for Aileen Trang about any of the freight advisory board appointments or for the two that we have here?

May I chair?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, of course.

Council Member Morales.

Well, I want to thank you, Herb, for being here in person.

I really appreciate the opportunity to read through your packet.

And I just want to appreciate the willingness, as we say all the time, of folks who want to serve on these boards and provide expertise to the city.

I will ask, I think maybe this is a question for Aileen, about the outreach for these boards.

You know, to Eric's point about making sure that communities that are not typically represented are also part of these boards.

I think it's worth noting that there are nine positions here, only two are women, and there are no people of color on this board.

And we know that, particularly when we're talking about some of these freight and transportation issues, it is communities of color that are most deeply impacted by some of the externalities of, you know, the climate change, climate challenges that some of this can present.

So I would just encourage all of us to be keeping that in mind.

And as we meet people who might be able to serve and represent some of those different perspectives on these boards, that we encourage them to reach out maybe to you, Aline, and express their interest in serving the community as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Morales.

Colleagues, any more comments or questions before we vote on this group of volunteers for the Freight Advisory Board?

Okay.

Let me go ahead and go to my script here.

So, Councilmembers, there's several appointment numbers here.

I'll go ahead and read them in as in my motion here.

Council members, I now move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointments 2611 through 2644 and 2678, which are items six through 10 on our agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments.

Any final comments or questions before we vote?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to confirm the appointments?

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Three in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries, and the committee recommendation to confirm the appointments will be sent to the September 26th City Council meeting.

Appointees do not have to show up to that meeting.

It's usually at the committee where we like to see you all and talk to you.

Okay, great.

Well, congratulations.

Thank you very much.

All right, take care.

Will the clerk please read the full title of Agenda Items 11 through 14 into the record.

Agenda Items 11 through 14. Appointments 2665 through 2668. Appointments of Priya Darshini Balan, Zachary Burton, Dana Kopernol-Huston, and Carolyn Tillinger as members to the Seattle Transit Advisory Board for terms to August 2nd, 2025 for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Great, we've got Carolyn Birkenfeld with us here from our Seattle Department of Transportation.

It's a real team effort to recruit appointees here.

So Carolyn, thanks for being here.

And if you don't mind going through telling us a little bit about these appointees.

Absolutely, yes, thank you chair Peterson and council members.

My name is Carolyn.

I'm the liaison to the transit advisory board or the tab.

The tab is made up of 12 members of the public who advise the city on public transportation.

The board also functions as the oversight committee of revenue collected under the Seattle transit measure previously Seattle transportation benefit district.

Today we have four TAB appointees.

Two of them are present here on the call and the other two I have prepared statements that I will share.

So I can go through and introduce each of those.

First, we have Priya Darshini Balan in the meeting with us today.

Priya is a transportation specialist at Commute Seattle and has collaborated with a range of community groups about their transportation experiences and needs.

And I'll pass it over to you, Priya.

Thank you.

I'm I'm a transportation specialist with the team that makes it easy for people to walk by crew and use public transportation.

I've extensively been involved in a lot of work through my organization that has exposed me to talk to people about transportation challenges that they face on a daily basis in different parts of the city, including, but not limited to the sidewalk infrastructure that we just discussed in the beginning.

And I feel like I come with all this experience and knowledge of working and collaborating with a lot of grassroots level organizations, nonprofits, and directly talking to people about what they think about their commute or general transportation.

And all that experience, I believe that will be of high value to the board.

And my main motivation is to work for the continuous improvement for the city's public transportation infrastructure.

I strongly believe a safe, accessible and affordable transportation services are essential for an inclusive community.

I look forward to playing an active role in realizing Seattle's vision for making, like, for contributing towards a sustainable growth, especially in terms of transportation, and the city has made remarkable advancement in transportation in the last few years, and there's more that needs to be done to ensure equitable access to all.

We're all working towards the same goal, which is to make transportation experience efficient and seamless for all the people who are living, working, and visiting Seattle.

And I'm excited about collaborating with the fellow board members to prioritize communities' needs, their perspectives, actively listening to what they want, and advocating on their behalf for the transportation enhancement across the city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Priya, as well.

I'll move on to our next appointee.

We have Zachary Burton.

Zachary, on the call today, he's a strong advocate for increasing livability through quality public transportation and is connected to a range of community organizations in Seattle.

I'll pass it over to you, Zachary, to speak more.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Peterson, everybody, for having me talk today.

Yeah, I've been very passionate about environmentalism and alternative modes of transportation since I was in high school.

When in my hometown, when I was in high school, I served on the Livable Streets Advisory Board.

It's a very similar board to the Transit Advisory Board.

We advocated for pedestrianization of neighborhoods, bicycle infrastructure, and transit infrastructure.

And so I believe that that experience can help me perform on this board.

And I live car free in Seattle.

And so I've experienced the challenges of not having a car in Seattle and having to rely on transit.

And so I believe that brings me a good perspective.

And I live in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.

And so I would like to be able to have a voice to advocate for better transit in Lower Queen Anne, but then also advocate for better transit all across Seattle.

So I just appreciate the opportunity to serve.

Thank you.

Thank you, Zachary.

I'll move on to our final two tab candidates.

They were not able to join the call today due to work conflicts, but I have prepared statements on their behalf that I'll share now.

So our third tab candidate is Carolyn Tillinger.

Carolyn is a real estate developer bringing unique perspectives on the relationship between transit accessibility and affordable housing.

And she's also a native to the Seattle area.

Carolyn is interested in joining TAB to learn more about current issues and learn from other TAB member and community perspectives.

As a frequent transit rider herself, she hopes to make public transit more accessible to all.

And finally, our 4th candidate is Dana Kopernol-Huston.

Dana currently works as a community college academic advisor, and they have a background in environmental science and teaching.

They wanted me to share with everyone here that they are very excited about the opportunity to join the Transit Advisory Board.

They are passionate about transportation, the ways we can make cities more accessible, and environmentally focused design choices.

They also have a particular interest in making transit as attractive and reliable as possible to attract new transit riders.

And that concludes the four TAB candidates.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Colleagues, any comments or questions for our appointees?

And again, for the viewing public, their appointment packets are online and council members have reviewed them prior to this committee meeting.

If we don't ask questions, it's because we've already reviewed their stuff.

All right.

Well, thank you.

We'll go ahead and advance these, do the parliamentary procedure to vote on advancing these appointments.

Okay, colleagues, I now move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointments 2665 through 2668, items 11 through 14 on our agenda.

Is there a second?

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments.

Any final comments or questions before we vote?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to confirm the appointments?

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Three in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, the motion carries and the committee recommendation to confirm the appointments will be sent to September 26th council meeting.

Congratulations to our appointees.

All right, will the clerk please read the full title of items 15 through 20.

Agenda items 15 through 20. Appointments 2669 through 2674. Appointment of Amy Conroy as member to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board for a term to August 31st, 2024, and appointments of Diane C. Hetrick and Nia Ransom, and reappointments of Yasir Al-Farag and Ty Botorf and Douglas Migdon as members to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board for terms to August 31st, 2025, for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you.

And we've got another superstar at SDOT here with us, Simon Blensky.

Good morning.

Go ahead and introduce yourself and the appointees who are able to be here today.

Good morning, Chair Peterson and council members.

My name is Simon Blensky.

Again, SDOT staff liaison to the Bike Advisory Board.

The Bike Board is made up of 12 members and advises the city on all issues related to biking, including policy and design.

Up for today, we have three reappointments, as you mentioned, Yasir Al-Farag, Tai Bortoff, and Doug Migdon, all have been active members over the last one to two years.

And then also three new appointments.

We have one member here today, and we had two, one had to drop off early for a work issue, but we'll start with the first person that's here today, Amy Conroy.

I will hand it over to Amy to introduce herself and then I will introduce the other two members.

Thank you, Amy.

Hi there, thank you, Simon.

My name is Amy.

Can everyone hear me okay?

Yes, thank you, Amy.

All right, just checking.

I live in Seattle.

I live in the Central District and I work downtown.

I am interested in serving on the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board to learn what we have done as a city, first and foremost, and to see what we can do to improve our streets for the daily bicycle commuter like myself.

I bike to work every day.

I bike to work for recreation and fun as well.

So with that, I would like to focus on safety, having others not be afraid of biking on our streets.

Two, accessibility, the amount and location of bike lanes, and how we balance standard bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, and others that all want to use these lanes.

And three, education, reminding the public, especially those driving cars, of our bicycle laws.

what measures we might need to instill to make people who are walking and riding to feel comfortable sharing space with other much faster moving vehicles.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Great.

Thanks Amy.

And then the other two members that couldn't be here today.

First is Diane Hetrick.

Diane lives in West Seattle.

She recently retired but had previously worked in the healthcare field and wants to ensure that biking is safe and an accessible option for everyone.

And then the final new appointment is Nia Ransom.

Nia lives in the Atlantic neighborhood, and she has a really cool extensive history with biking, including teaching mountain bike youth classes, working in a bike shop, and also leading bike events for women and the LGBTQ community.

And that wraps up the Bicycle Advisory Board appointments.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any comments or questions about these appointments to the Bike Board?

Again, there are a couple of reappointments and some new appointments.

And I really appreciate Amy for being here.

OK.

Great.

Well, we'll go ahead and move these appointments forward to the Bicycle Advisory Board, to the full council.

Council members, I now move the committee recommend confirmation of appointments 2669 through 2674, items 15 through 20 on our agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments.

Any final comments before we vote?

Okay.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to confirm the appointments?

Council member Morales?

Yes.

Council member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Three in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation to confirm the appointments will be sent to our September 26 City Council meeting.

Thank you, Simon and Amy.

All right, will the clerk please read the full title of the 21st agenda item?

agenda item 21 appointment 2675 appointment of Desiree Kraut Kramer as member Seattle as member of the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board for a term to March 31st 2025 for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you and we have Baylin Herrera from SDOT here so good morning.

Hi, good morning, everybody.

My name is Belen Edera.

I am the pedestrian advisory board liaison.

GSERA is not able to attend today.

They have a medical emergency that they had to attend to.

Okay.

Are you able to give a brief overview for the public?

Yes, I can.

So Desiree was our individual who we decided to move forward with.

We have quite a bit of applications that came in, and they are currently a security officer, and they would like to help make Seattle a better and safer place to travel, especially with those with mobility concerns, given that Desiree has identified as someone with mobility challenges.

Thank you.

And of course, we had a really good discussion today about sidewalks and the intersection with transit and mobility needs.

So I know the Pedestrian Advisory Board will be helpful with that effort to add sidewalks as well.

So thank you.

and colleagues have already read their appointment packet, so it's just one appointment today for the Pedestrian Advisory Board.

Any comments or questions before I go ahead and try to advance this appointment?

Okay, council members, I now move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointment 2675, which is item 21 on our agenda.

Is there a second?

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of this appointment.

Any final comments or questions?

All right, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to confirm the appointment?

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Three in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, the motion carries and the committee recommendation to confirm the appointment will be sent to the September 26th city council meeting.

And now our final appointments here before we go to the Vision Zero update.

Will the clerk please read the full title of agenda items 22 and 23 on our agenda.

Agenda Items 22 and 23. Appointments 2676 and 2677. Appointments of Ryan Baum and Kelsey Wrote as members to the Seattle School Traffic Safety Committee for terms to March 31st, 2026. For briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you.

Two appointments for the Seattle School Traffic Safety Committee.

We had a presentation from them in our committee recently with some really good recommendations.

And so we're glad we're replenishing the membership of the committee with these appointments.

And Diane Walsh from SDOT's here.

Good morning, Diane.

Good morning.

Thank you, Chair Peterson, good morning, co-sponsors.

I'm Diane Walsh.

SDOT is on the end of February.

S-T-S.

S-T-S.

Yeah, sorry it something's squeaking.

It's hard to understand.

You know, I didn't have my microphone down.

I'm sorry about that.

Thank you.

Now can you hear me?

Yes.

Alright, the School Traffic Safety Committee was created in 1975 to bring together Seattle Public Schools, the city, and parents to improve safe routes to school.

The committee recommends new school crosswalk locations, crossing guard assignments, criteria for placement of crossing guards and traffic circulation plans for schools.

The School Traffic Safety Committee is made up of representatives from SDOT, SBS, King County Metro, and the Seattle Police Department, as well as one representative of parents, one member representing pedestrian safety, one member representing bicycle safety, and three at-large members.

Today, we have two candidates for appointment.

Ryan Baum, who's recommended to serve as the bicycle safety member of the committee, and Kelsey Rote to serve as a general member.

And so I'll hand it over first to Ryan Baum to introduce himself.

Thanks, Diane, Chair Peterson and Council Members.

I'm interested in serving on the Seattle School Traffic Safety Committee as a bicycle safety advocate because having safe bicycling routes to and from and around schools is important to me.

I'm a West Seattle resident and Seattle Public Schools parent and a 17-year bike commuter from West Seattle through Soto, downtown, through National District and South Lake Union.

And I've advocated for biking with other parents, both to school and to work, particularly during the West Seattle bridge closure, including biking my son to daycare in Soto year-round for over three years on the back of a cargo bike.

So I'm familiar with the challenges we have in infrastructure and biking infrastructure.

And as a Seattle Public Schools parent, I really want us to continue to develop safe routes to and from.

Thank you.

Great, and next we have Kelsey wrote.

Hi, I'm Kelsey wrote.

I am a capital budget advisor with the governor.

I work on K through 12 and higher education.

So this committee feel really related to my work as far as school infrastructure is concerned.

And then I just think it's really important that we provide ways for kids to get to and from school that are safe, convenient for families, environmentally friendly and.

like provide a good interaction with the community around them.

So, I'm excited to be on the committee.

Thank you very much.

Thank you both for being here.

Colleagues, any comments or questions about these two appointments?

Okay, great.

And thank you again for your willingness to serve, Kelsey and Ryan.

All right, council members, I now move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointments 2676 and 2677, items 22 and 23 on our agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointments.

Any final comments?

All right, will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation to confirm the appointments?

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Peterson?

Yes.

Three in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, the motion carries and the committee recommendation to confirm the appointments will be sent to the September 26th City Council meeting.

And thank you, Diane.

All right.

Will the clerk please read the full title of the final agenda item into the record?

Agenda item 24, Vision Zero update for briefing and discussion.

Thank you, colleagues.

As I mentioned earlier, the Seattle Department of Transportation is here to provide an update on their early action initiatives, following their top-to-bottom review of their Vision Zero program, and any other information they have for us about implementing these safety protocols and policies.

So, appreciate Estat for putting this presentation together at our request.

It's on the agenda, so available for the public.

And we'll go through this efficiently today, but, you know, are always available to have Estat come here to talk about this important safety priority.

So, good morning, Francisca.

Good morning.

Thank you so much for giving us some time today.

I know you've got a really full agenda.

So thank you for giving us some time to talk to you about vision 0. we're really excited to give you an update on all of the work that's underway.

Specifically, the vision 0 top to bottom review that director spots requested on his 1st day on the job roughly a year ago.

Uh, the new nominee will be, uh, giving the bulk of the presentation today, but it's important to note that he's now 1st, chief safety officer and city traffic engineer.

a position specifically created after S.

did a review of the Vision Zero program and elevating his position.

He'll talk about the importance of having alignment between his work and his position as well as our outcomes for Vision Zero.

We are, he'll be talking about the ways we are really actively implementing the findings of the review.

with a focus on the five momentum building actions that are documented in that review.

But he's also going to tell you about work underway as we get into the Vision Zero Action Plan update, as well as the really substantial and transformative Safe Streets for All grant, which will be focused in D2 and will be delivering millions of dollars of safety improvements of many different types.

Our focus at SDOT on safety is really getting amplified, and it's really all even more than the things that we'll have time to talk to you about today.

We're also getting ready to install a fully protected bike intersection at Thomas and Dexter, the first one that we'll be introducing here in Seattle, a transformative move for safety and part of our continued innovation and facility and design to improve safety for people on our roads.

We're also re-envisioning Aurora in partnership with WSDOT.

And as part of that you should have already been seeing changes near Green Lake with the reduction of a travel lane to complete the loop around the lake as well as we're getting getting ready to install no turn on red along Aurora as an early move for that re-envisioning.

We just completed Kenyon Way sidewalks to Wing Luke Elementary School.

A really great project as part of Safe Routes to School and connected deeply to our Vision Zero and safety work.

We're getting ready to kick off construction on Martin Luther King Way Junior Safety Project which is protected bike lanes on Martin Luther King Junior Way.

And we also are just wrapping up completion of the first phase of pedestrian improvements for the Beacon Avenue South 15th Avenue South Safety Project.

The longer term project will be coming online next year, but that 1st phase was important way that we're demonstrating our commitment.

To including safety in our projects as we design larger capital projects.

We're also creating thoughtful design guidance around automated enforcement.

The new we'll talk about this, the importance of our partnership with the transportation equity work group and other community based organizations.

So.

Lots underway structurally in the department.

from our design perspectives and establishing policies so that we can systematically be improving safety throughout our network.

So with that, I will hand it over to Vinu, and he will share a lot more information the department's doing.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thanks, Francesca.

Good morning, everyone.

I'm sharing my screen.

Can you see my screen?

Yes.

The presentation?

Okay, excellent.

Thank you so much.

So let me first start with our mission values and goals.

As always, we affirm our commitment to lead with our core values of equity, safety, mobility, sustainability, livability, and experience, and excellence in everything that we do.

Why is my screen not moving forward?

Sorry.

Okay, cool.

Sorry about that.

In today's presentation, as Francisco was talking about, I'll give you a brief overview of where we are with Vision Zero, provide an update on top-to-bottom review, progress on momentum-building actions, and update on various grants we received for promoting safety.

I'll close with some next steps on our action plan.

Before I begin, I want to hold this space to acknowledge the 216 people that lost their lives to traffic violence on our streets since we began the Vision Zero effort, and over 1,450 people who are seriously injured.

Together, we want to hold the space for them and renew our commitment to Vision Zero.

Briefly, this is kind of how our 2023 has gone so far.

We have had 18 fatal collisions on our streets, with 19 people who lost their lives.

At least two of those collisions involved DUI, one of which resulted in multiple fatalities.

Three were hit and run collisions, and one involved a scooter.

Our data is preliminary, but we think up to six people who are unhoused were involved in these fatal collisions.

Another trend that we are noticing is that most of these crashes, 11 out of the 18 fatal collisions, were happening between dusk and dawn.

And at least eight of these fatal collisions involved speeding.

Our trend lines continue to point upward, indicating that we have a lot more work to do.

And here are kind of the three Vision Zero principles that we affirm, and going forward, we'll be focusing more on the safe systems approach.

US DOT has adopted the safe systems approach to improving safety, and two components of the safe systems approach, safer speeds and safer streets, are where we have our biggest influence using the engineering and administrative controls that are more within our purview.

As you all know, last year, at the direction of Director Spatz, Deputy Mayor Adyem Emri, and Mayor Harrell, our department has initiated a top-to-bottom review of Vision Zero.

And we have published a report earlier this year, sought feedback, and finalized the top-to-bottom review earlier this summer.

We have initiated five momentum building actions to promote safety, and I'll provide more details on the progress on those momentum building actions in the next few slides, and our next step on the Vision Zero Action Plan.

We have heard a lot from the public.

We got tremendous feedback.

We have incorporated that feedback into our final version to make our actions more clear.

and present a clear link to the action plan.

We have seen interest in looking at the effectiveness of speed limits.

We have seen kind of like we are hearing desire to see transformational proposals as something that we have incorporated into our Seattle transportation plan, which we just published.

And also kind of like an interest in understanding where the next steps are in terms of the action plan update.

So the first momentum building action that we entered was leading pedestrian intervals to accelerate its implementation.

So far this year, we have implemented leading pedestrian intervals at 57 locations.

This brings the total number of intersections with this safety countermeasure to 598 of the 980 or so signals that we have.

We are on track to implement another 49 locations before the end of the year.

And we are currently engaged in developing a strategy to finish that citywide implementation for the safety confirmation of which we have seen tremendous safety benefits in the next few years.

We are also, as Francesca pointed, we have also done some policy work.

You may note that we have implemented a no turn on red policy that restricts all right turns on red.

It requires a start to evaluate and implement this no turn under restriction at whenever we work on a signalized intersection.

Thus far, we have installed them at 48 locations, mostly in downtown and along First Avenue in Sodor.

And we are on track to complete another 25 locations, primarily along the Aurora Corridor.

We are developing a strategy to implement this citywide.

focusing on high-risk locations and underserved neighborhoods and then progressively kind of like working our way across the city.

Another kind of like momentum building action was our partnership with Sound Transit to improve, implement a series of improvements on Martin Luther King Jr.

Way to enhance safety for all travelers.

We are currently engaged with SD both at the staff level and and at the leadership level.

We are having biweekly staff meetings to talk about important safety issues at specific locations of specific safety strategies.

Our leadership, both Francisca and Greg, are both involved with their counterparts at the leadership level to provide direction to this combined team.

Recently, both Kenneth Agassi and SRAT, we have, working together, we have completed three community safety walks, not only to safety awareness and education campaign, but also learn firsthand from the constituents about their safety concerns, and also to demonstrate the various safety improvements that we have pursued, we have completed, or we are pursuing as we move forward.

We have several pilot projects currently in development.

Two of them are being led by Sound Transit, the audible warning modification, which increases train horn decibel levels to eight decibels as they're approaching the stations.

This pilot is currently underway, and Sound Transit is contemplating a 10 mile an hour reduction in speed as trains approach stations.

We personally are engaged in signal timing reprioritization.

What we have seen along the corridor is that when trains pass through intersections, there may be times when we have to skip pedestrian phases to let the whole signal system to come back into sync to serve all other movements.

And as a result, sometimes we may be skipping some pedestrian phases to bring the system back into sync.

We want to pilot a new way to implement this pedestrian reprioritization that either minimizes or eliminates that pedestrian phase skipping, and we serve pedestrians in a much better way while still prioritizing train travel through the corridor.

We are excited about this.

We have our subject matter experts working out the details, and we hope to launch this pilot very soon.

We ourselves have pursued a number of safety improvements on MLK Corridor over the last 12 months.

We have completed installation of leading pedestrian intervals at all intersections along the corridor.

We have finished marking the loop markings at all crosswalks at three locations along the corridor, non-station locations along the corridor, which we expect to complete in a month from now.

We have refreshed crosswalk and stop bar markings and lane line markings along the corridor, installed reflective yellow tape on signal heads at all intersections.

We have installed railroad crossing pavement markings to bring additional attention to left turning motors that when they make their turn, they will be crossing tracks.

And we coupled this treatment with dynamic no left turn and light rail symbol that comes on whenever a train is approaching or at a platform.

In addition to this, we have installed another 19, another train coming signs directed purely at pedestrians to grab their attention and give them an advance warning of a train that has just passed through or a train that's coming to the intersection.

In addition to that, we have also implemented supplemental pedestrian signal heads that are closer to pedestrians as they cross these intersections on MLK.

We have finished that at Othello and South Anderson intersections on specific crosswalk approaches.

And we are looking to install more in the coming years at more intersections.

As you may know, we have received both Sound Transit and SD in partnership, received a smart grant that's worth about $2 million.

This smart grant is for applying innovative technologies to improve safety for all road users.

Primarily, what we are looking to do with this smart grant implementation is to use video analytics to study safety behavior on the corridor.

We are looking at implementing and testing vehicle-to-everything communications, touchless pedestrian push buttons, smart technology for traffic signals, and signal system backup to make sure that this system can effect runs at all times.

Let me show you a quick video about what video analytics means.

Traditionally, when we do safety analysis, we rely on crash information that we obtained from police reports, but what we are doing is taking one step forward and using the media analytics and AI-powered engines to understand conflicts or near misses on the corridor and use that information to identify patterns and countermeasures on, safety countermeasures on the corridor.

We are right now kind of in the grant obligation phase, which we intend to complete later this fall.

And after that, we have about 18 months to finish the pilot and demonstrate these various new technologies.

And if we are successful, we are eligible for an additional $15 million in implementation of the successful pilot projects along the corridor.

Another momentum building action is to engage public on automated enforcement.

We have received a lot of feedback after we published our top-to-bottom review, and we incorporated that into our final version.

We have engaged in our partnership with our Transportation Equity Workgroup and a community-based organization, Who Streets?

Our Streets, to expand the conversations related to automated enforcement, centering them on both safety and equity.

We are currently working to develop a more comprehensive policy for automated enforcement based on the input that we have received from both transportation equity work group and the community input, and kind of see how we can center equity and safety as we consider potential expansion of this automated enforcement.

As you know, we have responded to the statement of legislative intent to expand schools and programs specifically and other automated programs We have developed a method for expanding school zones using both safety and equity to expand it across the city based on the input we received from our transportation equity work group and our own efforts and identified various resources and constraints in the current system.

The final momentum building action relates to my responsibility as a chief traffic engineer I now am also the Chief Transportation Safety Officer within SDOT.

In this capacity, I directly oversee the Vision Zero program, provide safety input into projects and programs, and develop policies and practices that are needed to center our work on safety and our core values.

This is to align our responsibility and authority and accountability to have a greater impact on safety-related issues.

I report directly to Francisca, and we also have a Vision Zero steering committee that's comprised of several departmental leaders so that Vision Zero is a program that sits across the department, not just in one division or within one team.

Moving to kind of like various grants, Safe Streets for All, we are excitedly working on the Safe Streets for All.

We are currently engaged with FHWA to obligate these grant monies.

We expect this work to be completed by the end of the year and move into a design phase early next year.

We are currently exploring ways with FHWA to see how we can more efficiently and expeditiously implement the various projects that are identified in the Safe Streets for All grant.

We have not gotten the full grant money that we have requested, so we are currently engaged in how we can deliver these projects, as many projects as we can, as we move forward with the grant monies that we have received.

We are also working steadily on the Aurora safety improvements.

We have completed our initial community outreach, and we are working with WSDOT and other stakeholders to lay the framework for next steps in the planning study.

We have several design chariots that are coming up in the next month that we want to seek additional public input on the design features that they want to see along the corridor.

Now, we're not waiting for the results of the planning study to implement something.

We're also working on some near-term improvements, implementing no-turn and red, which is going to happen later this year, looking at several locations where we are trying to install an additional pedestrian signal, install expanded crosswalks, do some turn treatment interventions along the corridor so that we can build momentum to implementing more safety improvements along this vital corridor as we simultaneously develop the planning study.

This kind of leads us to our next step or the last part of the top and bottom review.

We are working on an action plan.

This action plan is going to integrate the top to bottom review recommendations, basing it on the safe systems approach.

We will be focusing on both proactive and responsive approaches to safety, integrating STP's key moves on safety into the actions.

We anticipate completing this draft by the end of this year and moving to implementation next year.

With that, I thank you for all your support, support to promote transpiration safety and specifically your support of Vision Zero, and I'm happy to take any questions that you might have.

Thank you very much, and this is really helpful to have this baseline information as we head into our budget review.

Session once we get the mayor's budget a week from today I know a lot of us will be looking at that proposal to see if it's has Various safety elements.

We're hoping to see throughout our city and our districts and then looking at the you know where these collisions are occurring and we know that the data is showing it and predominantly in South Seattle and so want to support efforts to fund safety projects there.

Colleagues, any comments or questions about this?

I know you're familiar with a lot of this material already, but at least it's on our agenda, available for us.

We want to reference back to it during the budget discussion.

Council Member Morales.

Yeah, thank you chair.

Um, I do want to thank the entire S dot team.

Um, this is really helpful.

Uh, this is important work as we all know for the safety of our neighbors.

Um, I also want to thank, uh, April Pacheco who was on from sound transit, uh, during the public comment period, my office meets regularly with sound transit, uh, particularly about the safety issues along the MLK corridor.

And we meet regularly with SDOT as well.

So I appreciate the update on particularly some of the improvements, safety improvements that you're working on.

And definitely we'll be referencing this as we move forward in the budget discussions and just look forward to continuing to work with you.

So thank you for all of this.

And I do appreciate what feels to me like a real shift in priority.

in centering the goals of Vision Zero.

So thanks for your work.

Thank you.

All right, colleagues.

Well, thanks for sticking with us for the extra long meeting today and appreciate getting all this information out there for the public on such important issues.

Everything's on our agenda in case people want to look at it later.

And so that is our last item on the agenda.

So colleagues, we'll go ahead and close out this meeting.

The time is 12.10 p.m., and this concludes the September 19, 2023 meeting of the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee.

Due to the City Council's traditional budget review process, two months, all of October and November, We typically suspend regular committee meetings.

Therefore, unless we end up having a special meeting of the Transportation Committee, our next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 5 at 9.30 a.m.

Thank you, and we are adjourned.