SPEAKER_10

Well welcome again everybody.

SPEAKER_08

Tonight we're here to talk about public safety and challenges to the Chinatown International District.

We want to give a shout out to Andrew Kranzler, the Chief of Staff, and Council Member Morales.

Is she here?

Stand up.

Wave.

Thank you for all your help.

This is an official City of Seattle event and the council members that are here tonight are not allowed to discuss the election or any measures on the ballot as per state administrative code.

So we want to keep that in mind so we're not going to be dealing with that tonight.

And we're going to break this down into three sections.

First of all, We're going to be speaking to our folks up here on the stage about some of the issues regarding public safety here in the CID.

I'll be asking questions that were submitted by those from an RSVP forum.

And then we're going to give an opportunity for open questions and answers that you can ask of them.

I have a microphone.

I'll be able to come to you and get your questions.

And we'd like your participation there.

We have a translator and a lay.

Hi.

Hey, welcome, Adam.

We are going to keep those informed that need translation.

Thank you so much.

And he will be moderating as I moderate.

He'll be doing the same thing.

Here's the thing is that we want everybody to understand that we want to have a good conversation here.

We don't want any people acting out.

or being unruly, if you do that, I'm gonna throw you out.

Just, you know, not let you continue.

And I'm good at that.

Don't mess with me, okay?

I got the mic.

All right.

So let me begin with our conversation and let me welcome our speakers that are up here this evening.

I have a long list.

I gotta find my notes for all the folks that are here this evening.

Right here we have Bob Kettle, the Seattle City Council Member.

We have the Council President, Sarah Nelson.

Council Member, Tonya Wu.

We also have Natalie Walton Anderson.

She is the Mayor's Director of Public Safety.

We have Chief Amy Farben.

She got married recently.

Give her a hand.

There we go.

And we have Chief Surar.

He's the police chief here.

Thank you.

Thank you all for being here this evening.

And actually, I'm going to start with you, Chief Rahr, because before we started this evening, you mentioned to me that you were walking around the neighborhood today.

So tell us what you heard, what you saw.

SPEAKER_04

Well, it's no surprise to anybody.

Can you hear me OK?

SPEAKER_08

A little closer.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, we'll do it like this.

So I will be very honest with you.

I was horrified by what I saw.

I can't sugarcoat this in any way.

It was, I saw so many people on the sidewalks and the alleys on the street that are in horrendous shape, the vacant lots, the decay, it just, there were some areas that were just awful.

And I looked at it and I thought, I'm responsible for public safety here, and this is a huge problem.

So it was, I'll be honest, Enrique, it was a little surprising.

I just, I can't package it any better than that.

SPEAKER_08

Well, I know that this has been a tough time.

I think since COVID, this community was really hit hard.

I personally know what it was like to be a victim of crime in this area.

Someone stole my car three months ago.

Fortunately, I got it back, which I was very happy about.

But let's talk about what can be done in this community, particularly for, we have many seniors, in order to protect them.

What's going on?

What's happening here that the council and the city is doing to protect them?

Chief, I'll let you start first, and then I'm gonna have everybody else weigh in.

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think everyone knows that the staffing level in the Seattle Police Department is in crisis.

We are short 400 officers.

And so we have a very limited number of resources, a very limited number of officers to place in different assignments.

And so we're being as creative as we can at making sure that every assignment is as efficient as it can be.

We're also trying to find different ways to partner with different groups, private groups, community groups to bring more safety to communities.

It's going to take us a couple of years to catch up with those hiring numbers.

It takes about a year from the time we hire a new police officer until they're fully trained and on the street.

We've made significant improvements on recruiting and the process of bringing an officer on board.

So I'm optimistic that it is going to get better, but it's going to take a long time.

It's not going to happen quickly.

In the meantime, we have to continue to work with all of our partners.

And I'm just so glad to be sitting next to my buddy, Chief Barton, the other Chief Barton, because the public safety problem in all of Seattle and particularly in the CID is going to take many, many different disciplines to come together to make it safer.

I wish that I could assign 10 police officers to the CID because it would take that many.

To really maintain the safety in the streets on a good day.

I might have to so we're that that's part of the dilemma We have I also want to say there are so many factors that contribute to the the problems with public safety and The police don't have all the tools and the answers to fix it.

It's going to take everybody working together.

I

SPEAKER_08

So I'm going to move to this end and let some kind of ping pong here with you folks.

I'll give you the mic and you guys can share it over there.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Enrique.

First, I wanted to thank the Changhua Dental Association for hosting this event and inviting me.

I really appreciate the opportunity.

And I also really appreciate the opportunity to share the stage with so many accomplished women, which shows the strength that we have in our city.

And I really appreciate, too, having Chief Ward and Chief Barton here, because their departments are working this on the streets.

I'm the city council member.

I represent District 7 and for tonight I also chair the Public Safety Committee.

It was needed to bring a new direction to our city as it relates to public safety, strategic direction.

And that's kind of like what the council does.

We are the more strategic 30,000 foot approach.

And what was needed was this change.

And because of that, we've created a strategic framework for our attempts to change the dynamics that we're seeing on our streets.

And one of the things that we did with this was to identify what is that common theme with all these issues that we're sensing and dealing with in terms of public safety.

And that is, we've created this idea of permissiveness.

We've created this permissive environment that things are allowed.

And that kind of creates an environment that other things are allowed, and it cascades, and it gets to the point where our public safety posture is where it is today.

So we have our strategic framework plan to address this, and we have six pillars.

The first pillar is the police, because the lack of officers contributes to that.

The police officers are working hard, but the lack of officers is creating this dynamic that there's nobody here, as G4 noted.

And so what we need to do is change the dynamic.

And one of these is to fundamentally change the relationship between the council and SPD, the leadership, but also the men and women of the Seattle Police Department, and we've done that.

I asked them across the force to give us one year, and we're working on these pieces.

We're implementing different aspects of this, and it's related to the question, and I'll leave some for Council President, but we put in a lot of pieces to help the police, whether it's automatic license plate readers, The SCORE jail, working the issues with the jail as it relates to allowing the police to do their job in terms of once somebody was arrested, if they weren't diverted and items like that to have that peace.

We also did bills to help the fire chief to talk about vacant lots.

Vacant buildings and lots is a big issue and that is a pillar of our strategy.

and so we're going through all these different elements and we're changing the dynamic we're changing the approach at this more strategic level to set up conditions where we can help our our police force you know council president and i both serve on the labor committee we have a new spog the seattle police officer guild interim agreement, that was huge in terms of changing the dynamic, in terms of trying to increase the number of police officers.

So in short, that's like our role here, my role as I see it, and trying to provide that leadership, that kind of senior level leadership to help our folks that are really doing the work on the ground do it better.

SPEAKER_08

All right, I'm gonna go to Amy Barton, and she is actually a relatively new chief in the city, but she can explain her position and all of that, all right?

SPEAKER_21

Yeah, hello everyone.

So I run Seattle 911. Seattle Care Department.

And in that department, I can dispatch social workers, mental health professionals, right to appropriate calls.

And so when you're in Seattle 911, you learn that about half of the calls for service really don't have anything to do with law enforcement or criminal activity.

And they don't really have anything to do with the fire department or a medical emergency.

A lot of the calls I get are social work calls.

Somebody's having a mental health crisis or they're under the influence.

We have a lot of overdose calls.

We have a lot of calls when people are feeling suicidal and threatening to take their own lives.

And so it is long past time to set up a new type of first responder team that can go outright to these 911 calls and get people help.

So my conviction and commitment is to try to break the cycle of crime and crisis for people, because we have people where we will dispatch the same team again and again and again and again, sometimes the same time every day, rather than actually investing enough time to get them help, to get them properly diagnosed.

fentanyl has ravaged the city i know that you know that and so that has been my priority we need treatment for that we need inpatient treatment we need medical support and i believe if we can get that in place so that i can send care out care can get somebody into services because if we ask people do you want to detox would you like to get on methadone would you like to get help very often people say yes please But too often I don't have that help, right?

I can try to call the county detox van, I can try to find a spot for someone, so we need to invest more.

And when we do that, and actually get someone out of the cycle, that is when the city will start to look different.

SPEAKER_06

Hello everyone, thank you all for coming out.

This shows how much you care about this issue.

Thank you very much to the Chumwa Benevolent Association for hosting us and for organizing.

My name is Sarah Nelson, and I have been living in Seattle for 34 years.

I'm a mother, a small business owner, and I've been on the city council since 2022. And I'll tell you, whenever I'm back here, I remember my very first neighborhood tour.

when I was running for council, Ms. Nora Chen gave me a walk around the neighborhood and she pointed out all the problems, but what kept coming up over and over and over again was public safety, vulnerable elderly people, trash, graffiti, some of the problems with the potholes, and I have to say that I am economic development chair focused on helping small businesses, but when it all comes down is improving public safety and I have to echo Chief Rahr's comments that we haven't come far enough in the amount of time that I've been on council.

Now council passes laws and it's up to the executive to implement them.

So I'm not the boss of the police, but we have to work together with the executive and we have to get into high gear.

So in addition to, so My first year I passed a resolution calling for police bonuses because the single most important thing that we can do is increase the number of officers.

That's taking too long, but we gotta keep our eye on the ball there.

I also firmly believe that Addiction and the fentanyl crisis lies at the heart of our twin public safety and homelessness crises.

And so I've been focused on providing access to on-demand inpatient and intensive outpatient treatment And that's more than helping people manage addictions.

That is trying to get people who are ready into treatment so they can put their lives back together and get on the journey of recovery.

I feel very strongly about that.

I mean, there's a long list of things we have done and that we want to do.

I'll just mention a couple of them.

This is not a patting ourselves on the back exercise, however.

Just yesterday, out of the Public Safety Committee, and I have to say, one moment, that Since the elections last year, we have reason to be optimistic because we have a public safety chair who really is committed to public safety.

And frankly, public safety was the issue that got the candidates who are on council elected.

So I do believe that the political will is there.

So that's the big news.

So we passed a law that will be focused on getting people to stay out of areas where there's concentrated drug and crime activity, both on Third Avenue and here in the CIB.

So that is good focused attention.

That's another tool.

We are focusing on additional jail services because our officers have to have some place to take the votes that are breaking the law and they've been restricted from taking them to the King County Jail.

So there are things happening.

What I want you to know is that we're about to enter the budget.

budget through the lens of public safety.

Will this investment improve public safety or not?

And so that is my priority going into these deliberations that start at the end of this month.

I'll just spare you all of the other things I have on my list of what we could be doing to improve public safety here and let you know that I share your frustration that things aren't better yet, but we are trying and we have to have Take a big dose of humility and recognize that we've got a long way to go.

SPEAKER_08

I'm sure you will be hearing a few things to add to the list tonight.

I want to bring in the executive's office here, and that's Natalie Walton-Handerson.

She's the mayor's director of public safety, and weigh in on what your concerns are and how you're helping.

SPEAKER_15

First of all, thank you for having me.

And before I go any further, I really want to recognize my colleague, Cindy Wong, who is the public safety liaison.

She does deserve a round of applause.

I want to recognize her because she brings with her a passion for ensuring that the executive's office, that the mayor really continues to invest and support the CID.

I am new to this role.

I've been here for about three months, but I am not new to the criminal legal world.

I've been doing this work for 28 years.

I started at the King County Prosecutor's Office as a volunteer intern and as a restitution investigator and victim advocate.

And I started my work listening to crime victims call and talk about what happened to them.

So I approach this role with the goal of listening.

We have to do a lot of listening to what is happening, but with that listening comes intentional action to make progress.

A lot of the things I was going to name and talk about have already been named.

We need to do more.

Thanks to Cindy and SPD, I've had at least one ride along and three walks through the CID in the three months that I have been here.

It is still one of the most beautiful and special places, but as Chief Rahr said, there are so many areas that really cause some great concern.

One of the things that the executive office does obviously is support and try and propose and find funding for the things that will actually help with some of the things that have been named.

I think first of all, police recruiting has been named.

This is something that I work on and touch almost daily in terms of making sure that we can address some of the stop gaps that are I think hurting us being able to get officers through.

Some of the other things that we are currently working on is essentially trying to get CCTV, the CID is one of the three areas that when council makes a decision on that would be named as one of the pilot projects and we've chosen this area because the data shows that we need to support that with more investigative tools to help our law enforcement as well.

There's been a lot of conversations about just what the CID needs in terms of cleaning and presence.

And I want to name a few current things within the last month that we have been working on.

One thing that SPD, and I don't want to speak for Chief Brar, but they have a much more active presence.

We've asked them, the mayor's office has asked them to have a more active presence to support and enforce the drug ordinance, specifically on 12th and Jackson and 12th and King.

SPD, along with all of our community providers with care, we have the ability to address these issues.

It's keeping consistent and it's difficult to do with capacity, resources, and staffing.

In addition to that, we have also reached out to King County Metro to find out what are their hours of operation in terms of this area.

And they are staffing the bus stops between 3 p.m.

and 11 p.m.

That is something that is really realistically needed in this area to try and reduce some of the activity that unfortunately follows our buses and our parks.

We've expanded our park rangers.

We recognize that having presence, having people in the area, having that activation is huge for community.

With that, though, there's always the challenge of some of our community members who gather and utilize the park for illegal activities.

And that can be intimidating, I think, for some of the community here that wants to go and enjoy that park.

So trying to find that balance and coordination with our park rangers Being able to coordinate the efforts when there are significant security concerns are things that we are continually working on.

We have asked Seattle Public Utilities to do additional trash pickups and identify that for the neighborhoods and we will continue to do that.

I know there are other coordination efforts that we can do.

What we want to do is not to band-aid and just respond to the issues, but actually be proactive.

And I just want to share, there are many of the things that have been mentioned here, but the executive's office is very committed to continuing to invest in the CID.

It is one of the most special places in our city, and we will continue to do that.

All right, thank you.

SPEAKER_05

Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

I grew up here.

But I went to Chinese school downstairs.

And I did drill team up here.

And I grew up here in this neighborhood.

So I remember what it used to be like here.

I remember.

12th and Jackson being a thriving shopping area.

I remember Vint Wah shopping there on Sundays.

I also remember coming here at 2 a.m.

at night and not being able to find a parking space because all the restaurants were so busy.

This was a safe place we could walk around when I was a kid and not have to worry about being attacked, basically.

And that's what I'm hoping we can go back to.

We can go back to feeling safe walking to the park.

We can go back to shopping at 12th and Jackson and having all the restaurants be able to stay open.

Right now, I know there are several restaurants who may close at the end of the year.

There's six of them who are for sale.

I know there are four buildings here for sale, too.

But I think we have a brand new council.

I want to tie this all together, but our priority is safety.

And we are...

Change is slow.

It's easier and faster to burn something than it is to build something.

But we want to build a stronger city for our communities, and that includes looking at things like how are we able to hire and retain more police officers?

How do we expand the care team so there's social workers to help people who are sleeping on our streets to be able to come inside?

And then looking at things like how do we help our small businesses, our grocery stores, and we've lost our hotels, our pharmacy.

So how do we make sure that we have those basic needs and services come back here?

And those are all things everyone here on this stage wants accomplished and wants to do and is working hard to do that.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you.

SPEAKER_08

One area I want to address, you brought it up already, everybody I think knows and is concerned, that is 12th and Jackson.

Chief, can you speak to that?

What's more focused there?

What's going on?

SPEAKER_04

Well, 12th and Jackson is a complex problem because it's not just one thing that's the problem.

We've got multiple things happening there.

We have a lot of people who are suffering from the severe disease of addiction who are vulnerable to people who are selling drugs.

And then there are people who are selling stolen property that take advantage of this audience that is there on the street.

And so we have all these folks coming together in a particular area.

Now, I have fantasized that I could go through and just scoop everybody up and take them somewhere where the people who are addicted can get better, the people who have mental illness can get treatment, and the people that are preying on them are held accountable in a jail.

That would be the dream scenario.

Our system is not built that way yet.

Our system doesn't work for the present reality of public safety.

We changed our laws four or five years ago.

And it was for, I think, well-intentioned reasons.

Theoretically, drugs shouldn't be illegal.

That's a theoretical framework.

But the reality is for that to be successful in a public safety world, there needs to be something else instead of jail.

And we don't have a robust enough system in place to provide people the treatment that they need.

That capacity is building, but we're not there yet.

and so we're in that transition time where we've got people that aren't getting the treatment they need and it's very complex to get them into treatment in theory we would like to walk up to a person on the street who was slumped over they just smoked fentanyl i would love to say to that person come with me i'm going to take you to a place where you can get treatment they won't go with me because they are trapped in the cycle of addiction I need to physically pick up their body and take them to a place where they are held securely until they can get the medical intervention that they need to get through that crisis, and then we approach them and say, we have an opportunity for you to get longer-term effective service.

That system isn't built yet.

We've had many conversations about what that would look like.

Many people in this stage have heard me talk about, we need a third place.

We have a hospital, we have a jail, but we need a place to take people that don't want to be taken anywhere, but they need to be taken to a place where they can be safe until they get through the crisis and can make good decisions.

I hope that we continue to have that conversation because doing it the way we're doing it now with either the hospital or jail is not working.

We see the result of a system that is not working.

SPEAKER_08

Let me ask, you all notice that there is a large group here of elderly folks from the community.

And they spend time in the neighborhood, or at least they want to.

Or they want to spend time in the park, but they can't.

What can you do, or how can you tell them, or what can you say to them about their safety?

Because they're afraid.

Anybody, pick it up.

SPEAKER_05

I just want to address something from the previous question really quickly.

The Navigation Center is slated to be moved in January 2025. I know our offices are watching very closely to see how that's accomplished.

We are also, I know the Public Safety Committee and many community groups are doing an amazing job reporting incidences that they see, and that helps us with the data.

So please, if you see something happen or something happens to you, please talk to somebody to report it.

When it comes to...

Things I'm looking at are community safety teams or safety ambassadors is something I will be advocating for in the budget.

But when it comes to our parks, we have amazing park facilities.

We have ping pong tables.

I see people playing ping pong until 10, 12 a.m., We have movies in the parks, and there's always people sitting in the back who may be drinking and engaging in behaviors that are kind of uncertain or unsafe.

And so I think the exciting thing is from the mayor's office, the park ranger program, it's getting expanded, isn't it?

Or you're hiring.

Do you want to talk more about that?

SPEAKER_15

We did expand our park rangers, I mentioned that earlier, and that provides a lot more guardianship to the park and more activation.

Again, there still are significant challenges, but we've worked on that in terms of lighting, in terms of vegetation, making it more open, more inviting spaces.

What I would also say is, you know, SPD does help with the park management when there are security concerns, but our goal is to keep those parks open and the guardianship and people coming to those parks are key.

And this is really the first time that we've had the type of park ranger capacity that we need to be able to keep our parks safe, but also activated.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Enrique.

I just want to jump on this question really quick to add.

When Council Member Wu mentioned about the Navigation Center, it reminded me.

First thing I want to say is Tanya Wu is a fantastic, great colleague of mine on the City Council.

She's engaged.

She's working the issues.

And that's what I identified in her.

I saw somebody who works issues on the street, kind of like I did in a very different context in Queen Anne, but I saw somebody who was a community leader on the street who was taking the fight to City Hall and often banging her head against City Hall's walls.

That experience teaches you a lot, and that's the kind of experience that we need and that she brings.

But her point also highlighted that You know, the Chinatown International District should not be penalized when they stand up to the King County Regional Homeless Authority regarding some of their plans.

That should not be happening.

The community should be able to speak up and say, hey, these are what our needs are.

This is what we're looking at, and we should have a voice in the decisions that impact our neighborhood.

Trust me, I was doing that for Queen Anne in my area of the Seattle.

And so that's something that you as a community should be, applauded for and I know that Tanya is one of your leaders and that she should be applauded and not penalized for that action.

And so thank you to the community for standing up because I think that's important to do and something that needs to be recognized and again not penalized.

To the question tying into your question, the two, the 12th and Jackson, often time you hear about third and pike and pine.

I often then say, you know, 12th and Jackson and King.

I always say Jackson and King, and partly because I didn't mention it earlier, I'm a retired naval officer who had a career in the Navy, naval intelligence, and I'm a life member of Ballard-Eagleson VFW Post 3063, and I had the great honor of visiting the Nisei Veterans Center on King.

And I saw what was there on King.

It's not just 12th and Jackson.

And 12th, Jackson, and King, in a way that like Third Pike and Pine, shows that it's not just one little area.

It's broader than that.

And I think that's important to highlight.

And to Chief Rohrer's point, and as a follow-up, the first question was primarily related to police.

I have a responsibility as the chair of the Public Safety Committee more than SPD.

I have nine entities under my committee to include the care department.

And it is key to work the public health side of this because we cannot succeed in public safety if we don't also succeed in public health.

So we have to have this dynamic approach where we bring both pieces, and that will also help with the homelessness piece as well.

And those three are all intertwined, and we have to understand that.

Again, my role is to push and work the public safety pieces.

That's why this area is part of the SOTA bill, the Say Out of Drug area.

That is why, as Director Walton Anderson mentioned, regarding CCTV and the Real-Time Crime Center, because our committee is going to take that up, and there will be a pilot in your neighborhood.

These are the actions that we need to take from our level to assist Chief Warr to allow her officers to do the job that they need to do.

And I just wanted to bring those pieces together.

And thank you, Enrique.

SPEAKER_15

I just want to add a couple of things in terms of 12th and Jackson and 12th and King.

One of the things that I think going to Chief Rahr's point about how this is really a complex issue is the illegal street vending.

And so we are working with SDOT to figure out what more we can do.

One thing that I know the mayor's office is going to do is more of a public education campaign along with SPD to talk about the illegal vending that's going on and trying to figure out some other strategies because that does go hand in hand with a lot of the drug trafficking that we are seeing.

Some of the other safety concerns that have not necessarily been named, but I do know that Councilmember Wu mentioned nightlife, and nightlife is such an important part of our community, but what is difficult is when we have businesses operating as illegal nightlife and some of the things that come with that.

One of the other projects that both Cindy and I are working on is reengaging with our CCT team, which is the code compliance team.

And that's where the enforcement of after hours, businesses that are operating without liquor licenses, that's where that comes in.

And so we are working to look at at least one business in this area that is becoming incredibly problematic and we're hearing that from the community and the data from SPD shows that we've had some some concerns there the last thing I just want to mention is the beautiful neighborhood faux depth project where we are really trying to work with our community to identify those solutions I had the privilege of being able to participate in one of the meetings and it was truly wonderful to hear from community to have the community come up with some solutions that we're going to be working on and there's one more meeting I think next week And from that, we're going to have 100 days of trying to problem solve.

And realistically, this is something that the community is doing.

And the mayor's office, SPD, and others are just there to support that work.

SPEAKER_08

All right.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_06

I just have to say that no one should be afraid to go to the park.

That's our commons.

That's a place where we gather as a community.

And I'm a citywide council member, so I represent all of Seattle.

I think it was last week or the week before, somebody was killed in Magnuson Park.

So I don't know what kind of coordination is happening between the parks, well, the Department of Parks and Recreation and SPD, probably a lot, but I'm not really sure about it.

But we have got to get out of, as a city, as a bureaucracy, de-silo the communication.

And...

uh...

make sure that there is tonight i do believe that as the public safety director in the mayor's office that you will be uh...

writing heard on various different departments so that is that is a positive sign but here's the thing we can't keep excusing uh...

We have to get away from saying, well, we don't have enough police and that's why we have these problems.

We have got to focus our limited resources, both law enforcement and services, in a targeted manner where they will make the most difference and where they will be most responsive to the worst problems.

And that's called place-based problem solving.

There was an audit that was presented in my committee last week.

It means zero in.

emphasis patrols by officers or targeted services on the street.

This is what we have to be doing because we're not going to get or have the resources that we need.

So we need to spend them wisely, I would say.

Other things that I would say is that Council Member Cattle coined a new term, basically, the permissive environment, and I do believe that that is really key.

So when I said that I'm going to be looking at the budget through the lens of public safety, that means graffiti and trash pickup as well, as you said.

Council cut money from the mayor's proposed budget for graffiti removal a couple years ago.

Let's make sure that that doesn't happen again and that's adequately funded.

But basically, it's about being smart and coordinated and caring for our most vulnerable.

And I hope one day that you will feel that you are not threatened, that your safety is not threatened in the parks that you love.

That should be our gold standard goal.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

I want to mention...

That we want to hear from you.

We want to take some of your questions and comments.

So, all right, I will come to you in a second.

But I also want to work in, Amy Barden here.

One of the things I wanted to ask you was that you have folks that go into the community basically are handling people that have mental health issues and other things.

Where are they situated and are they situated at all here in the Chinatown International District?

SPEAKER_21

Yeah, this was a priority area from the beginning.

So the pilot zone included the CID.

It was downtown, primarily west of I-5, but I carved in the CID and specifically have invested in Little Saigon because I can see the crime and the crisis data and that there is a great need for more support here for more people.

THE CARE TEAM ACTIVELY IS EXPANDING TO 24. SO I HAD SIX RESPONDERS INITIALLY.

NOW WE'RE GOING CITYWIDE.

I HAD $2 MILLION OF CONGRESSIONAL EARMARKS THAT CAME FROM SMITH AND GIAPOL THAT ENABLED THAT SWIFT EXPANSION.

AND I AM HIRING RIGHT NOW.

YOU CAN SEND ME YOUR GOOD PEOPLE.

And so it is going to make a significant difference.

Sometimes I only have 58 law enforcement officers in all of the cities.

So if I can add 24 social workers who again are masters level, they're skilled, they can triage and hopefully get someone into services.

About 40% of the time in the first 800 calls we've transported somebody somewhere.

Sometimes people are lost or they've been abandoned or they're confused, they're under the influence.

Sometimes people want to go back home to Maple Valley.

They don't want to remain in the city.

Just because I overdosed here, it doesn't mean this is where I am going to recover.

And so I think that's very hopeful to be able to expand and again, I will continue to beat the drum.

We have to have a system that helps people.

So I want to interrupt the cycle, not to punish, but to rehabilitate, to change, to redirect.

This morning I was at King County Drug Court graduation.

I go every single month and you have people who have committed felonies, who have had charges brought, who elect into this diversion court where they actually get services.

They get their addiction treated, they get mental health, past trauma addressed, they are connected with employment.

THEY MAINTAIN SOBRIETY.

THEY GET RECONNECTED WITH THEIR FAMILY.

AND EVERY MONTH I GO, AND IT MAKES ME CRY, BECAUSE I SEE PEOPLE ACTUALLY RETURN TO COMMUNITY PREPARED AND READY TO BE GOOD NEIGHBORS AND TO BE ABLE TO PROCESS THE GRIEF AND THE SHAME AND THE LOSS THAT THEY FEEL FROM THE CRIMES THEY COMMITTED BY CONTRIBUTING.

AND SOME OF THE BEST LEADERS IN THIS CITY HAVE GONE THROUGH THAT PROCESS, AND EVERYBODY SHOULD BE AVAILED OF IT.

PEOPLE CAN CHANGE.

SPEAKER_08

THANK YOU.

Before we get other questions, are there any of the seniors that want to ask a question?

I know that they did not have a form to fill out.

Okay, right here.

Excuse me, can I get right back?

Pardon me, pardon me, pardon me, pardon me.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_13

I heard a lot of officials have found out about the Tang people's problem.

I think the basic problem is where?

The problem of the flow of water.

If the problem of the flow of water is not solved, the security of the Tang people, even if there is a flow of water in any place, it will not solve this problem.

SPEAKER_09

Yeah, I heard a lot of speeches from different officers, different council member, but for me, I think the problems are simple.

The biggest problems are the street people and the biggest problems are too many guns floating out there.

SPEAKER_08

And Alan, do you want to tell them to give you a little opportunity to translate?

Okay.

All right, what he said, okay.

Where's Cindy Wong?

Cindy, come over here.

Cindy handed me something here and I wanna actually have her tell it because I can't read her writing.

SPEAKER_02

Hi, I just wanted to, regarding the first questions about helping seniors, I want to uplift that Seattle Police Department actually has a crime prevention coordinator, Barbara Biondo, who actually does training for Smart 911, and also the 911 also has translators, so I just want to lift that up to the community, because we know that this is an under-reported community, so we want to equip the seniors to be able to report.

SPEAKER_04

I just want to add something to that quickly that I learned this afternoon from talking to Officer Jing Wu.

And he talked to me about there's very, and I'm learning about, there's multiple dialects in Chinese.

It would be really beneficial for a community member or for a person, not a member of the police department, to be a community volunteer who can help be a person for the seniors to go to that can then call the 911 and report the crimes.

There's still a problem with language barriers, and calling 911, you may not get an interpreter that speaks the correct dialect.

If we can find community volunteers that can help us with that translation, that would be a big win because we know we're not getting all of the reports of crimes.

SPEAKER_08

Okay.

All right.

SPEAKER_13

So for me the street people are the biggest problem.

SPEAKER_10

Lots of street people come in.

SPEAKER_09

Lots of people come in the middle of the night ringing my doorbell, pounding on my door, and I dare not sleep at night.

SPEAKER_18

I would like to add something.

In the building of 607, there was a flood in the early morning.

So it made our building very unsafe.

So we immediately changed all the numbers.

We changed them one by one.

So I said the flood problem must be kept under control.

If we don't take care of it, it will only get worse.

You see, There were only a few police officers.

We couldn't find them.

We had to ask people to go to the park to sit or stand.

It was like that.

There were no police officers here.

You're not afraid of death, right?

SPEAKER_09

And we also suffer from the street people coming in all the time.

So most recently we changed our security number at the front.

And then now the street people, to me, is also the biggest problem.

We dare not go to the parks because there's not enough police presence.

If there's more police presence, we will feel safer going to the parks.

SPEAKER_00

I'll hold the mic.

OK.

Hi, I'm Jay, I live in Fujisata condos and I've talked to many of you before.

And I'd like to pick on a few things, like Councilman Kettle said, there is this trend of permissiveness.

And the permissiveness must be reversed.

When you walk into Chinatown, and like Councilmember Wu said, there's all these restaurants that are closing, FedEx closed, Bartels closed.

People don't want to come here because there's a perception that it's not safe.

There's people lying down on sidewalks, sitting on sidewalks.

The city does have a code against that, 1548040. It's a sit-lie law that applies to the CID.

You're not allowed to sit or lie on the sidewalk between 7 and 9 unless you're watching a parade or have a doctor's note saying you can do that.

If we can get that cleaned up, that removes some of that permissiveness.

Even on 12th and Jackson, many of those people are just sitting down on the ground or lying down.

And if we say, okay, new sheriff in town, please move along.

Okay, we don't have enough staffing.

But if you go down to the waterfront, if you go to Westlake, which used to be a horrible problem, Seattle Center, around the stadiums, you have private security.

Westlake, it was cleaned up over by private security, and now the Seattle Center private security moved down to the waterfront.

You don't see problems.

We don't have the staffing, but perhaps we can expand the budget.

The budget's probably there for the staffing, just not enough bodies to hire.

Use that budget in the meantime to move that security and expand it into the CID and say, please.

Move along, you can't sit on the ground here.

We're not arresting them, we're not citing them, we're just asking them to move along.

But right now there's nobody to do that.

The police won't do it, the CSOs won't do it, the park rangers won't do it.

but we can mandate private security to do it.

And Chief Roar, Chief Barton, I love, you guys are great.

And I understand, yes, you fantasize about picking them up and moving them.

I've gone to city council, county council meetings, and I beg them, please examine Sandpoint.

Sandpoint, Hangar 30, and the adjoining two-story building that can't house mental health counseling.

Okay, you have 20,000 square feet of building.

Sure, it's congregate housing, but it can be used.

Next to that, how many of you guys know there's a 10-court tennis center that was built for $6 million?

They'll spend like four times that to buy a motel that becomes a meth lab and gets condemned.

The city owns Sand Point because the Navy gave it to them.

They can build a facility similar to the tennis courts for pennies.

And they can use that for congregate housing.

Now, Salvation Army, of course, was gonna put 600 beds into the 6th Avenue facility.

That would have been congregate housing.

And they did a great job there.

So it can work.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

SPEAKER_21

so I really like you thank you for that one thing folks know I've been in this role I came back to Seattle a year and a half ago and it was interesting I'm from the nonprofit sector from Human Services I'm used to being on the front lines and so it was interesting to look at the system design of resources and realize all my what we call high acuity really profound mental health diagnoses really profound substance use disorder we we saturated certain neighborhoods with those folks And so I have been very critical of that design.

I spend a lot of time at the Morrison.

I love the ESC.

I'm friends with their leadership.

But I've been level setting.

I don't believe that you can have 190 people with these types of diagnoses all co-located and not have a lot of 911 calls.

And the good news is that everyone's agreeing with that.

And so now with the new KCRHA and other leaders, we need to go back and redesign this.

We need small little communities.

There are sites that work beautifully for high diagnoses, high needs people, but it should be about 38 to 40 people dispersed all throughout Seattle, all throughout the county, not saturated in the CID, in SOTO, in Pioneer Square.

That was never right.

We should not have done that.

SPEAKER_17

I'm a resident of Eastern Hotel.

SPEAKER_09

And in the alleyway, a lot of people would be sleeping there, napping there.

And so in response to that, the government built a lot of chaining fences.

I don't think that solved the problem.

SPEAKER_17

Even with the gate,

SPEAKER_09

people still sneaking and then I live on the third floor more than once twice three times the street people left feces on the third floor I can tell you I'm living in Chinatown I feel very unsafe

SPEAKER_07

So I wanted to ask problems that I'm seeing in the neighborhood.

I live what will be a half block outside of the proposed soda zone.

And every day for three months, I hear an ice cream truck music coming from a van that has people coming to it.

And I can tell you they're not selling ice cream from there.

So why can't the police do something when we obviously know they're drug dealers?

There is a souped up lime green truck that's sit there for hours.

Why can't the police arrest those drug dealers that we know are drug dealers?

And to the council members here, you just heard the police chief say there's not enough cops.

So you're going to pass this soda bill, pat yourselves on the back, and there won't be enough officers to actually make your virtue signaling bill actually work.

So then what are you going to do when you pass the bill and nothing changes?

But I would like to hear Sue Rahr first.

Why aren't you actually going after drug dealers?

SPEAKER_04

I would love to go after those drug dealers, and I would like to have officers and send them down there to make those arrests.

I would love to get more details from you about that particular truck.

If we can get there at the time it's doing it, I will absolutely send officers.

SPEAKER_07

So why can't they secure it?

They should see it.

They should know that the 19 truck is there.

Why do you need a community member to tell you that?

SPEAKER_04

Sir, I can't answer your question.

I don't know.

I'm not sitting in the van you're describing.

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_08

Take a picture.

Send it to the police.

SPEAKER_09

Okay.

SPEAKER_08

You want to respond to that?

SPEAKER_01

The number one thing is that it's not virtual signaling.

It is part of the framework plan.

It shows action, it shows intent, and it looks to address the permissive environment.

As noted, you know, I got a lot of pushback.

Why do we have a street racing bill?

Why?

Just let it go.

And that enables the next thing.

And so we passed the bill, you know, because it goes to the idea that anything happened.

When you see on the news an officer in his car and he's being spread around, you know, they're doing donuts around him, that shows the impotence of the system and of the government.

And we can't stand for that.

So we're pushing on that.

And to your point, it's about disruption.

It's about disruption.

And it's going to disrupt, too.

Because my team, we're working closely with the Seattle Police Department and other entities.

And we're working these things.

It's not going to be perfect.

And the other thing, too, is we don't legislate for six months.

We lay this down, and we do this for the longer term.

And this is one of the things that we're looking to do.

We're going to be engaging.

I connect West Precinct with people in Belltown on a regular basis, so Captain Strand has that information.

And we look to do that with these other areas of the city, and we will continue to do that.

And it's not virtual signaling.

That's your opinion, and you can have it.

SPEAKER_05

So I also want to address that really quickly, and then I'll pass this to Council President.

I'm out there at Tolton Jackson.

I know what you're talking about.

I see who does what.

I know who the drug dealers are.

I know where to go to buy EBT cards.

I know who does what.

I know who the people who really need help.

But when I'm out there, I don't see...

unfortunately our officers because I think they are understaffed and it would be great to get the department to a point where we can have officers on the ground and community again and more detectives and a graffiti unit, but everyone's in control now and I think it's tough when we are massively understaffed.

I also want to address community members' questions regarding security and safety in their housing and their building.

I really hope you're reporting this, and I hope that there is somebody you could go to when you see this happen, because I don't know how they're getting inside.

Are they following in?

Are they sneaking in?

Are they breaking a window and going inside?

But that needs to be addressed, and there has to be more safety precautions so people are not going into the buildings.

Also, someone had a question about gun violence.

There was a shooting at Heng Hei Park two weeks ago.

An innocent bystander, a 36-year-old Chinese person I heard, Asian person, was shot.

That was not part of the original argument.

Guns are a huge problem.

Unfortunately, that's something, you know, they're modified, they're dangerous.

I know the police department has a gun buyback program, and I'm hearing you've bought back 960 guns so far this year, or maybe even more.

SPEAKER_06

But I think it's it's a larger problem that the entire city is facing I Just have to say that I completely I understand your Your anger and your indignation and I get a lot of that's what people ask me all the time There's obviously a dealer in this RV.

We have a law on the books.

You can't park there for more than 72 hours Why don't you tow that away?

etc and all I have to say is I I recognize that enforcing laws on the books would do would go a long way and you know we can talk about officer shortage we've talked about saturation of resources in certain places where they're most needed but I I just want you to know that I am I will let our chief answer, but I completely empathize with that question.

And as for, you're right, we are not virtue signaling, we are, but it does matter that we move people along and disrupt behavior that is occurring in the moment.

SPEAKER_04

I think we also have to recognize that we as a broader community in the state, in the city, made decisions four and five years ago to change laws, to make laws more permissive, to defund the police, to do all of those things.

One of the problematic pieces of legislation that went through when we talk about gun violence, and I want everybody to listen carefully so that you can reach out to your state legislature.

Are people aware that if a juvenile is arrested, charged, and convicted of illegal possession of a gun, the maximum sentence they get for the first violation is 30 days.

The maximum sentence they get for the second violation is 30 days.

The maximum sentence for the fourth up to the fifth Conviction is 30 days.

When they hit that fifth conviction, they get eight months in prison.

So I can continue to go out and seize guns and arrest people for 30 days.

They're going to be out of the community.

We have to get back to looking at the bigger system.

I can keep arresting people, pulling them off the street.

They're coming right back out.

We have to reassess our system of accountability.

SPEAKER_15

I just want to say a couple of things just about the SPD's efforts to address drug trafficking.

Within the last 30 days, I've been paying attention to the incident reports that come in every day from SPD.

And over the course of the last 30 days, there is no shortage of every single day getting reports from SPD that they have arrested four or ten drug traffickers with guns, with vast amounts of fentanyl.

So it's difficult because we don't publish what SPD does on a daily basis for our city.

But what I will tell you is it is constant in terms of the amount of arrests.

and the amount of emphasis that has been in this area in terms of drug trafficking.

And so SPD is doing and targeting that, and they are working alongside with King County Sheriff's Office.

There was an article in The Times related to that.

That work continues to go on daily.

And there's just more that we need to do because we have an influx of drugs and guns coming into this area.

And we have to send that tide and we are doing that alongside with a lot of our regional partners and our federal partners.

But I don't want the community to walk away thinking that this work is not going on daily and the number of arrests that are going on daily to try and address the drug trafficking.

There's just an influx and we have to get on top of it.

SPEAKER_04

And they don't stay in jail forever.

They come back out.

It's not a one and done.

SPEAKER_03

I hear you.

Everybody, my name is Esther Lucero.

My mom's side, Latina, my dad's side, and I serve as the president and CEO for the Seattle Indian Health Board.

Yeah, I serve as the president and CEO for the Seattle Indian Health Board.

I know you don't want me to hold the mic because you don't want me to hug it, and I'm not going to.

But it's very important that you understand we are at 12th and Weller.

I've heard a lot of talk about 12th and King, 12th and Jackson.

And I do recognize that we have a new team up here, with the exception of Councilmember Morales, who's not here tonight.

So I'm just going to acknowledge her staffer.

And I'm going to take you down a little history, because we haven't talked enough about the navigation center.

Only Tanya Wu has raised that concern.

And so here we are talking about King and Jackson, and we're not talking about the origin of permissiveness.

So hear me out.

That navigation center is run by the city.

That navigation center purposefully partnered with the Seattle Indian Service Commission because that building was bonded by the city.

So they had direct access and a monetary reason to be able to utilize that service.

Now I'm bringing that up is because that was in the Murray administration and it was Lisa Herbolt's brilliant idea that she pulled from San Francisco where that model failed.

45-day shelter where you can actually use, 45-day shelter where you can have pets and you can congregate on the lawn.

Nobody has talked about 12th and Weller's Lawn, about the drug trafficking that's happening there, because what happened as a consequence of that navigation center was that the drug traffickers camped out right on Lane Street, which is a city responsibility.

It is a city street, Lane Street, where that encampment keeps coming back and coming back and coming back.

It was featured in Seattle is Dying, which I don't entirely agree with.

And at the same time, our building is right above Lane Street.

And I want you to know we witness human trafficking.

We witness drug trafficking.

We call the police.

I understand that you're understaffed.

And for the most part, our officers have been really trying to be as helpful as possible.

But you have to remember...

I mean, during the Durkin administration, the council and the mayor were not working together at all, at all.

So what we would hear from our police officers is, sorry, talk to your legislators.

What we would hear from our legislators was silence.

What we would hear is you can't move encampments and permissiveness.

Do you see what I'm getting at?

And so now we're sitting here talking like this is a new issue, and like we're trying to manage it from the back end, but this is a city issue.

The city caused it.

The city caused it.

And I need that to be spoken.

Now, I need to carry us forward, right?

So now we're talking about, again, working with the county.

I've said this over and over and over.

There's an incestuous relationship between the city and the county.

And what happens is we get earmarks from the federal government or we get state allocations to actually do services that community health centers like ours already do.

Now, I'll tell you, way back when Chief Best was put in her position, she never met with the community health centers.

never captain diaz i knew him but we still never developed a strategy and i get worried when you say to me i want to take your social workers because i'm going to pay them a ton of money and all of a sudden our 11 native social workers mental health workers are going to go work there and it bottoms us out without even intention around collaborating with community health centers now i'm going to tell you the most successful Thank you.

The most successful community policing models center themselves on health and work with the community health centers.

You've got ICHS, you've got Neighbor Care, you've got Country Dog, you have a Seattle Indian Health Board just waiting for a conversation.

Just waiting.

Please do not inflate these salaries.

Please do not hoard the resources.

Please invest in programs like ours.

Now I'm gonna tell you one more thing, and Sarah knows this because we've had this conversation.

We're about to open a 92 bed residential treatment facility.

It's on Vashon Island, but readily available to Seattle residents.

There has been no investment from the county.

There's been no investment from the city on this program.

It is going to increase the bed capacity for King County by 62%.

If you want to know why there are no detox beds, it's because we have made the billing mechanism so it's unreasonable to sustain those programs.

Otherwise, we'd run one.

What I am talking about is stop behaving like you're in a scarcity mindset.

You don't have enough resources because your community is the best resource you have.

And that's what I want to see change.

SPEAKER_08

Anybody want to respond?

SPEAKER_01

Thank you so much for what you were saying.

That point you made is the reason why I ran last year.

And here's the issue.

I may agree in the goals, like, hey, we need to get here.

But we can't rely on a wish strategy to get there.

And that's the problem.

We've had too much wish strategies implemented.

And we need practical strategies that look at facts on the ground, like what you have in your background, and that information, and then employ it.

And I will admit, I'm not strong on public health.

That's why Chief Barden, working with her and others, including Council President.

But the public safety side, I've been working left, right, and center since I retired from the Navy and then came to Seattle.

And these are the points that we need to address.

And it goes to the permissive point that I make.

And the strategy is to work it out.

And we are changing the direction.

And we're changing the attitude.

And we're changing the approach as we look to address these issues.

And thank you for your comment.

SPEAKER_03

Just one last data point.

We spend $1.2 million a year on armed security.

We spend $1.2 million a year as a community health center on armed security.

24 hours a day to keep our relatives safe.

And guess what?

The folks in the encampment who are preyed upon, and I'm so glad you're talking about that intersection between homelessness, mental health disorders, substance use disorders, and beginning to deconstruct that.

But I'll have to tell you, the folks who experience homelessness, we're grateful for that security and safety.

And we're not going to be able to afford that forever.

We're not.

SPEAKER_21

I just want to acknowledge that was brilliant.

It was brilliant.

This is my first government job.

You know, I've got a day job and then I've got 20 or 30 hours a week that I'm spending in community.

Now that I know you, you will not be able to shake me.

I mean, there was a day where I realized, oh my God, do we think this gets solved in government buildings?

It doesn't.

And if I'm doing my job well, I should be invisible.

I should be invisible to community, fanning the flames of what works and knocking out barriers that are holding you back.

It was brilliant what you said.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_14

Good evening, everyone.

I'm Beth.

I'm living in the CID for at least 16 years.

So I, my neighbors, all my neighbors, and I collect their question.

We are worrying.

Sorry, can I speak Chinese?

Because my English is not that good.

I want to say in Chinese that we, as normal people, do not understand whether our city council members or all the officials represent us or represent the criminals or the homeless.

Of course, we sympathize with the homeless and the criminals, but should they not harm us?

We should not be poisoned.

Have any city council members spoken to us?

SPEAKER_09

Me and my neighbors in Chinatown, we want to know how come the city council members seem to be advocating more for the street people than for us.

And we want to be protected.

We want to be advocated for.

SPEAKER_14

We hope that our government...

We love Seattle very much, just like everyone else.

We love our government very much.

We respect our city council very much, especially our police, because they are the perpetrators.

But there is one thing that we have been very disappointed in these past few years, which is that our government, our city council members, except for Tanya, I have seen that they have helped us, but no one has helped us rise.

For example, The streets are full of homeless people.

How do you deal with them?

It doesn't affect the local people.

Or those who work in the water pipes.

They are open until early in the morning.

There are gunfights every day.

There have been gunfights in the streets recently.

There are so many homeless people in the park.

Why can't we find a place to make them happy?

It won't hurt us.

It won't hurt so many people.

SPEAKER_09

And we feel like the city council, we love the city, but we feel like the city council and the police have not helped us, with the exception of Tanya.

The last few years, nobody spoke for us, and there are so many of those smoke houses in Chinatown open till 12 midnight.

People, the criminals are hanging out in the parks, and we dare not to go out.

SPEAKER_14

We have seen that the government has invested a lot of money in building houses to reduce the number of homeless people.

But have you ever thought about whether the people living in the skyscrapers will become victims?

Do you have a good system to manage these skyscrapers?

Don't let our ordinary skyscrapers affect the safety of ordinary residents.

Trash is of course a problem.

The most important thing is safety of life.

And now there are a lot of racing cars or old cars on the streets.

From late at night to early in the morning, they are very noisy.

Why was Seattle, more than 10 years ago, very beautiful?

It is the best city in the United States.

It is the safest.

Why is it like this today?

We are really worried about our parliament.

And we see the government investing a lot of money in building houses and housing many of the homeless.

SPEAKER_09

And then the last ten years ago we never saw those car racing in the middle of the night.

creating a lot of nuisances.

We love the city.

We hope the city council will help us.

SPEAKER_20

Hello, my name is Mary, and I'm a neighbor of this area.

I live on Capitol Hill, about three blocks from the East Precinct.

I was there during the fun days of CHOP, and they were not fun, let me tell you about that.

But I'm here because you're doing this, Tanya, and you're running for Citywide.

Oh, thank you.

And I want to support you, and I want to thank you for what you're doing.

But briefly, I also want to capture this audience.

I report encampments every single day.

They are related to everything people are saying here.

And I understand also, Chief, what you're doing with the care resources and Chief Rauer with SPD.

Everyone has limited resources.

So what can we do strategically about the goals of the city council and the mayor?

Let's develop something like mass units where people that need the help have access to wide swaths of land, tents, wraparound services, food, health, mental, spiritual counseling.

Drug addiction is a spiritual ailment as well as everything else.

But get people out of these encampments.

They're dangerous.

They're dangerous to neighborhoods.

Drug activity is going on there.

Trafficking is going on there.

Dealing is going on there.

Guns are going on there.

We know it.

And I report them all the time.

And I've also talked to Joy Hollingsworth, my council representative, and I go to as many of these events as possible.

But I also want to tell you I hear that you guys are really working hard.

I know how hard it is.

But I'm here in support of my neighbors here.

And I'm just heartbroken at these stories and what's going on.

And we do need help.

You just gave an eloquent example of why things aren't working.

We have the resources are in the community.

Please use us and figure out how to get a dollar out of a dime.

FIGURE OUT HOW YOU CAN GET PEOPLE OFF THE STREET.

WE KNOW THEY SHOULDN'T BE CAMPING.

WE KNOW THEY SHOULDN'T BE DOING THIS.

I LIVE IN A BUILDING THAT'S CONSTANTLY GRAFFITIED AND WE HAVE TO CLEAN IT UP.

IT COST US THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.

PROPERTY DAMAGE.

WE HAD A HOME INVASION BECAUSE SOMEBODY JUMPED ON TOP OF A METRO BUS SHELTER.

KING COUNTY DOES NOT LISTEN TO US.

And Chief Fowler, I was there in Madison Park when you were there for our neighbor who sadly lost her life to a carjacker.

And this is not our Seattle.

This is not us.

And that guy probably got on a metro bus for free because people can just walk on.

The other thing I want to point out, and Chief Wharton, maybe this will be a part, and it might help you too.

Instead of letting people get on our King County buses and transport for free, Let them go get a card through the services that are out there so at least we get them in the system.

Right now, people just walk on like they're entitled to, and that's where most of the problems are coming from on the buses.

They're not paying for their bus pass to go smoke their fentanyl or to beat people.

I've seen it all.

Thank you.

So sorry.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_08

We'll be back here.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_12

Hi, my name is Daniel Rivera.

I've lived in this community for 19 years, all my life.

And I'm young, but I talk a lot to my fellow peers about the problems we have in this community.

And you know, it's the common homelessness, gun violence, graffiti, street racing.

But there's an underlying theme underneath every single one of these problems, which I hear in their voice, which is the loss of hope.

constantly I hear how frustrated they are, how fearful they are, that nothing's being done in this community.

And I think this fear turns into hate, and this hate turns into division, where we the people of the CID are separate from homeless people, but we all are Seattle people.

We're all one people.

And I think that's what this community needs, hope.

And I think hope only comes from action.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you.

SPEAKER_08

Okay, we're going to take about two or three more questions, and then we're going to...

Can I hold it?

Okay.

I got the microphone.

SPEAKER_16

Hi, everyone.

My name is John Grant.

I'm the Chief Strategy Officer with the Low Income Housing Institute.

Our office is just down the way, just on Jackson and Rainier.

Almost every other week, we have staff going outside and resuscitating people who are overdosing, and we're using Narcan to save lives.

But we know that it's not enough.

We are one of the larger enhanced shelter providers for the city.

And something that really stuck out to me today was listening to Chief Rahr about where do we people go?

Where can we send people even if we have somebody who wants behavioral health support, who wants substance use disorder counseling?

And I think what people want to hear today are solutions, not just that there are plans in play.

And I want to thank the city council and I want to thank everybody on the stage who has supported our tiny house village program.

Because we have behavioral health specialists on site.

Last year we had 120 formerly homeless folks enrolled into substance use disorder counseling for the first time in their lives all of the time.

We had 20 more people enter mental health counseling.

If you're asking how do you get the folks on 12th and Jackson into treatment, get them into shelter.

Get them into shelter and enhanced services.

And we will stand with you to expand this program.

We have four other locations all throughout the city.

where we could build more tiny house villages and get more people into treatment, and we would love to partner with you to expand the program so that it's not all concentrated here in the CID, but it's something shared by the whole community, because we need more solutions that work.

SPEAKER_19

Thank you.

We have been in Tongyuan for a long time.

We have been in Tongyuan for a long time.

We have been in Tongyuan for a long time.

If you don't run away, you won't be able to get through Tongan Street.

What happened on July 16th and 17th?

You live in 502?

Yes.

SPEAKER_09

I live in apartment street number 202, and then on the 16th or 17th of July, the street people came into our building, wandering around on the 18th floor, or the 8th floor, 7th floor.

They came in every day.

They urinate.

They leave feces behind.

They feel like that is their home.

That is our home.

SPEAKER_19

The police came in every day.

We were scared the whole night.

We were scared the whole day.

We called 911. Three times, the police came in.

They came in, but the police didn't know who they were.

He's causing us fear during the day and the night time.

SPEAKER_09

We called the police three times.

The police asked me, what does the person look like?

What is that suspect?

And we could not tell, and then the police did not come.

SPEAKER_19

Yeah, I called three times.

SPEAKER_09

Police did not come.

Thank you, thank you.

Do we have to say the person has died and before people will come?

SPEAKER_08

Thank you.

We unfortunately are out of time.

I've got to wrap things up here.

I appreciate everybody that was able to ask questions tonight.

I know that you probably, a number of people didn't get to ask questions, and I know that they wanted that opportunity.

I'm going to let Tanya wrap things up here.

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_05

Great.

So thank you so much for coming here and sharing your stories.

Many of us have been taking notes.

We have our staff members taking notes, and we're definitely going to bring this back.

I hear that there are a lot of concerns regarding security within our homes.

And so I think that's something we're really going to have to think about.

Go ahead.

And so budget is in three weeks.

And this is the time where, as Council President Nelson said, rubber hits the road.

We're really going to be looking.

And for me, I will be advocating for safety teams here to help come if a business needs help, very similar to the Third Avenue project.

I think we need that here, too, to be able to address people's and residents' and small businesses' concerns and issues and be ready to go when called.

And so I wanted to thank everyone for being here today.

Thank you for my colleagues here.

And please, this is not, please reach out to us.

We have business cards at the front.

And we are accessible and available if you have anything else you would like to tell us.

SPEAKER_08

Thank you everybody for joining us.