Seattle City Council Select Budget Committee Public Hearing 111021

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you very much for joining the Select Budget Committee meeting.

This is a special public hearing to offer us a chance to hear from members of the public.

The date is November 10th, 2021, and the time is 5.32 PM.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Peterson.

Present.

Sawant.

Present.

Strauss.

Present.

Gonzales.

Here.

Herbold.

Here.

Juarez.

Here.

Lewis.

Morales.

Here.

Chair Mosqueda?

Present.

And Council Member Lewis?

Present.

Thank you.

Nine present.

Thank you very much, colleagues.

As you just heard me note, we are going to be able to have translation with us.

I want to welcome Raul to the committee meeting here with us and thank him for the opportunity to provide translation.

I will read through the first portion of my transcript.

Orienting us to the day and then when we get to the end of that, I will turn it over to Raul who's receiving this information as well.

Colleagues, thank you very much for joining us early this morning at 9 a.m.

to go through the details and the truth about what is in the proposed budget.

I appreciate very much your time and attention to this conversation that we've been having about the proposed budget, as well as the community members who've been tuning in.

If you have emailed my office about SPD-related items, you will be receiving momentarily a summary of what is actually in the budget.

To correct much of the information that's out there, I want to make sure that the information is clear.

There is no cut.

to existing Seattle police officers.

There is no cut to the proposed hiring plan.

Any comments to the contrary are actually counter to what is included in this proposed budget.

There's over $26 million included for overtime staffing.

There's over $4 million included for discretionary purposes and IT systems totaling $4 million.

Please note that it is important that the correct information is shared with you in case you have any concerns about the misinformation you received today.

That's an advisory note in case anyone's calling in on that.

I'm sure that there will be proposals to increase or decrease that section of our budget, but I wanted to make sure everyone at least had a baseline understanding of what the truth was, and that is there is no cut to existing officers or cuts to the proposed hiring plan.

With that, I'll get into my script.

Thank you again to Raul.

Gracias, Raul.

Thank you for joining us today to provide translation for members of the public who requested translation services in advance.

Raul will be translating my opening remarks here and directions on how to participate in today's public hearing.

In addition to providing translation for the public comment for members who will be providing comments in Spanish.

Raul will be translating those comments to English for those who wish to testify in Spanish only today.

For future language access requests for the Budget Committee, please make sure to contact Farideh Cuevas, that's F-A-R-I-D-E dot C-U-E-V-A-S, for my office.

That is a request that we would ask of you 72 hours in advance of the committee meetings to make sure that we can accommodate your request.

Again, the next public hearing is next week on Thursday starting at 9.30 AM.

colleagues, we have approximately four and a half hours worth of public testimony this evening, if everybody who has signed up is offered one minute.

I know how important it is for us to hear from community members, and that is why you all have coordinated town halls, office hours, and so much more to help build today's budget.

Like you, I have heard from folks even before we began to have our discussions specifically about the mayor's proposed budget, about what we needed in this time of COVID.

We want to make sure that the budget process is an opportunity for constituents, advocates, and members of our community to provide deliberate public engagement opportunities for us and to be with us at this virtual table.

Transparency, accountability, and good governments mean that the council's budget process has to be more than checking a box and rubber stamping the executive's proposed budget.

That's why we hold public hearings like this.

The mayor's proposed budget was not developed with public hearings like this, and it is the council as the legislative branch's responsibility to develop the final budget.

That requires us to set aside time to engage with constituents like we are doing tonight.

Raul, I will pause here if you have access to the script, and I will let you go ahead.

And if it's not word for word, that is absolutely okay.

The general sentiment is included in the notes.

Thank you, Raul.

Yes, ma'am.

Because I just got the script right at this given moment.

It's whenever you started saying, colleagues, today we have Raul joining us today, correct?

Correct.

Thank you, Raul.

Yes, so here goes.

mis comentarios de apertura y también mis instrucciones sobre cómo voy a moderar la audiencia pública en el día de hoy, además de traducir o interpretar lo que son los comentarios públicos del español al idioma de inglés de las personas que desean testificar en el idioma de español en el día de hoy.

Ahora, para las solicitudes de acceso del idioma en el futuro para el comité de presupuesto, por favor asegúrese de comunicarse con la señorita Farideh Cuevas, Farideh Cuevas, de mi oficina, 72 horas, recuerde, por anticipo, de anticipado, sobre la junta, la junta del comité para presentar su solicitud.

Now, colleagues, we have X number of participants who signed up today, and we all know how important it is for us to be able to hear from our constituents when we build the budget.

Like you, I have heard from people, and even so, before being elected, que el presupuesto mayormente antes de que el presupuesto estuviera ya preparado cuando fuera transmitido por el alcalde pero eso no es y no puede ser el caso puesto de que el proceso del presupuesto del del consejo es la primera vez cuando escuchamos por parte de los constituyentes, intercesores, y que públicamente podemos deliberar con más personas en las mesas virtuales, transparencia, responsabilidad, and good governance means that the process of the budget of the council has to be more than just marking a box of an executive budget.

For that very reason, That is the same reason, sorry, that we present the public hearings like this one, but it is not the first time that the councilors participate and share with our constituents.

As the president of the committee budget, I have worked hard to increase our communications foreign foreign until 11.30 in the morning.

Also, regarding the first 30 minutes of each budget meeting, we dedicate it to the comments of our public.

También de igual forma yo he invertido las últimas par de semanas escuchando de centenares de individuos y organizaciones que se centralizan, centralizan sus temas y las cuestiones que impactan mayormente a nuestra ciudad, incluyendo Those helpless people, that is, people without a roof, what is public equity security, yes, and also affordable housing, affordable housing and economic revitalization.

Thank you very much, Raul.

As budget chair, I've worked hard to increase our communication to members of the public.

Like evenings like this, we've increased the number of public hearings and the time in which we're hearing from members of the public.

This budget cycle, we have three public hearings.

This is our second one.

The last one will be on November 19th from 9.30 to 11. In addition, we will finish with 30, excuse me, we will start, we have started every meeting first with 30 minutes at each of our budget meetings.

I've also spent the last few weeks hearing from hundreds of individuals and organizations centering the issues that impact our city the most, including services for the homeless, equitable public safety, affordable housing, economic revitalization, through a series of office hours and community conversations.

Yesterday, as you know, we also provided a live streamed budget reveal at 2 p.m.

on Seattle Channel for members of the public.

At this time, we are going to go into remote public comment period.

And Raul, I will go ahead and translate the key components.

And thank you very much for translating the opening remarks.

At this time, we're going to open remote public comment period.

We have approximately four and a half hours of public comment to provide an opportunity for those who are on the line to offer their comments.

Today, we will conduct the public comment in the following manner.

Each person will get one minute to provide public comment.

You will hear a chime.

I will call on three speakers at a time in the order in which they have registered on the Council's website.

If you have not registered but you would like to, you can still sign up before the end of the meeting.

Once I call the speaker's name, the staff will unmute you, and you will hear that you have been unmuted.

Please go ahead and speak, but press star six first.

Begin speaking by stating your name and the items in which you are trying to address.

Thank you so much, and we are going to start public comment.

Raul, are you able to translate items one through six on that script?

If you don't mind.

Absolutely, ma'am.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

It begins with at this time, correct?

Yes, thank you very much.

Yes, ma'am.

We have X amount of people, the amount is not written, that are appointed to provide what is public comment, to be able to cover all the people who have signed up today.

La audiencia pública del día de hoy será moderada de la siguiente manera.

Uno, nosotros vamos a cubrir a todas las personas, las mismas que se apuntaron en el día de hoy y que están registradas, por decirlo así.

Dos, cada orador se le dará al mismo o a la misma un minuto para hablar.

Para aquellas personas que necesitan servicios de traducción e interpretación, también a ustedes se les dará solamente un minuto para presentar sus comentarios.

Después de un minuto, entonces le entregamos el micrófono al intérprete para que lleve a cabo la traducción consecutiva.

Ahora, tres.

Yo le llamaré a tres oradores a la vez.

y en la orden en la cual ellos se apuntaron, se registraron en el sitio web del Consejo.

Bien, si usted aún no se ha apuntado, inscrito para hablar, pero quisiera hacer uso de su palabra, usted puede apuntarse antes del fin de esta audiencia pública.

como usted puede acudir a lo que es el sitio web del del consejo que lo que viene siendo council's website at seattle.gov forward slash council es la dirección ahora el enlace de comentario del público también está enumerado en la agenda del día de hoy ahora Por favor, asegúrese de que usted está llamando con el mismo número, con el mismo que usted se apuntó y se registró.

Si no, no la veremos, no lo veremos cuando aparezca en nuestra lista.

Ahora, una vez que yo llame el nombre de él o la oradora, el personal desenmudecerá lo que es el micrófono apropiado, correspondiente, y habrá un indicio, una señal automática en donde usted escuchará, usted ha sido desenmudecido, you have been unmuted.

Esa será la señal del orador que es su turno para hacer uso de la voz.

Ahora, el orador deberá oprimir estrellita seis para empezar a hablar.

Seis, por favor empiece a hablar.

Very good.

Thank you very much.

And the cantidad, the number of people who have called up is

276 at the moment.

So let's go ahead and get started.

Gracias, Raul.

Here we go.

Michael Malini, Jesse Friedman, Francis Yee.

You are up first, Michael.

Good evening.

Michael, star six on you.

I'm not seeing Michael.

Jesse?

Jesse, you are up, followed by Francis.

Hello, my name's Michael Malini.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

Hi, my name is Michael Mullaney.

I'm a Roger in District 3 calling in support of the solidarity budget, including additional cuts to the $10.9 million cuts to SPD.

I'm hoping the council will remove funding for all 134 positions that SPD does not intend to fill and eliminate the $14 million adjustments for one-time budget changes so SPD doesn't have a $28 million flush fund for next year, as well as for the calling to invest in housing and the following ways with provisions to ensure that funds for tiny house villages and encampments are spent only on that purpose including $800,000 for self-managed communities, Nickelsville and Cher and $45 million for social housing acquisition programs.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you very much.

Jesse you're up next followed by Frances.

Good evening.

My name's Jessie Friedman calling in to thank the council for your generous support of youth care and our staff and the proposed balancing package.

Almost 50 percent of unhoused adults in King County experienced homelessness for the first time before the age of 25. The investment in this budget will help young people access the essential services and skills needed to set them on a path towards stable housing throughout adulthood.

Thank you to Budget Chair Mosqueda for your advocacy for and inclusion of the 5 percent 5.8 percent even better inflationary increase and the wage equity study in this balancing package.

Our frontline staff are heroes and they deserve to be compensated at a rate that reflects their absolutely critical service to our young people and to our city.

Thanks to Council Member Lewis Jacob Thorpe and Jeff Sims for your assistance and to the entire council for your time thoughtfulness and commitment reflected in this budget.

I hope you all get some much-deserved rest in the weeks ahead.

Thank you.

Frances is followed by Alice Lockhart and Kaylee Condit.

Good morning Frances.

Good afternoon.

Good evening.

You know what I'm going to say.

Hi.

My name is Frances.

You can hear me right.

Yes.

Thank you.

Okay, so my name is Frances.

I'm a student at the University of Washington.

I'm calling to express my support for the solidarity budget, especially defunding STD and putting that money where it counts, which is in the community.

To me, this means things like affordable housing, education, food access, public transportation, and transitioning our city off of fossil fuels and onto renewable energy.

so that we can create a livable future for people like me and people younger than me.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alice, good evening.

You're followed by Kaylee Condit and Peter Condit.

Alice Star 610U.

Good evening, Council.

I'm Alice Lockhart and I organize with 350 Seattle.

Thanks to you and to staff for all your work toward a more equitable budget.

But we're not quite there yet and we can't be there when Seattle spends 26 times as much on policing compared to climate.

We should preserve and substantially expand the common sense $10.9 million cut to SPD in the balancing package.

We can't quite be there with the bulk of our when the bulk of our emissions come from transportation and we aren't treating that as an equally serious issue compared to bridge maintenance.

We should proviso bridge spending to ensure that design work and spending incorporate the city's climate and affordability goals.

In the coming days, Solidarity Budget and Green New Deal advocates will be analyzing the details of the balancing package and coming to your offices with requests for amendments.

I urge you each to sponsor multiple Solidarity Budget amendments that move us toward real community safety, including putting guardrails on the city attorney's office, more affordable housing, and bringing down climate emissions and to vote for each other's amendments.

Thank you.

Thanks.

And that reminds me, I wanted to thank central staff for extending the amendment deadline for our colleagues that will be 2 p.m.

on Friday instead of noon.

That does mean that we need to be working within the next 24 hours to really finalize those ideas.

Kaylee, followed by Peter.

Good evening, Kaylee.

Good evening this is Kayleigh Condit a resident of District 6 and a professor at the University of Washington.

I support Seattle's solidarity budget and defunding SPD by 50 percent.

City Council should defund SPD because SPD is structural racism.

In January a study commissioned by SPD by the Center for Equity in Policing found that Black people are five times more likely and Native people are nine times more likely to be stopped by SPD than White people are.

Yet this same study also showed that White men are the most likely demographic to be found with a weapon.

These data follow nearly a decade of reform efforts under the federal consent decree and huge increases to SPD's budget.

This is now painfully clear that the cops don't keep us safe and dollars need to be moved out of that department if we want to make progress towards true public safety.

Defunding SPD by $10.9 million and the balancing package is a great start.

Council should go further and defund all 340 positions that SPD does not intend to fill next year and eliminate technical adjustment for one-time budget so that SPD doesn't have tens of millions of dollars acting as a flush fund.

Thank you very much.

Peter, followed by Katie Rubin.

Good evening, Peter.

Good evening.

This is Peter Shalitow-Condit in District 6. The events of the past two years have been challenging, life-altering, and in too many cases, life-ending, including for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Horace Lorenzo Anderson Jr. and many others.

The violence and trauma from colonialism, genocide, enslavement, criminalization, and incarceration is perpetuated today in the criminal legal system.

The easiest way for council to contribute to undoing these harms is by defunding SPD and the city attorney's office.

Removing 10.9 million from SPD in the balancing package is a good start, and I applaud cuts to SPD's hiring bonuses, technology spending, and CSOs.

But council should do more.

defund all 134 positions that the SPD does not intend to fill next year and eliminate the technical adjustment for one-time budget changes so that SPD doesn't have tens of millions acting as a department slush fund next year.

Instead, council members can and should fund non-police public safety and ideas put forth in the Seattle Solidarity Budget.

Thank you for listening and all the work that you continue to do for our city.

Thank you.

Katie Rubin followed by Jordan Rayray.

Good evening, Katie.

Hello, my name is Kate Rubin.

I'm a renter living in District 2, and I'm the organizing director of Be Seattle, a proud endorser of the Solidarity Budget.

I'm deeply concerned that many of the proposed budgetary amendments for housing did not make it into the initial balancing package.

We are in a housing crisis.

The Solidarity Budget is calling for a dire investment in housing, including $45 million for a social housing acquisition program to fight displacement.

An additional $30 million for the equitable development initiative, which has been a lifeline for BIPOC communities fighting against displacement.

An additional $500,000 to support renters' rights education and organizing, $770,000 for vehicle residency outreach, an additional 2.8% contract adjustment for stable and essential human services, and provide those to ensure that funds for tiny house villages and encampments are spent only on that purpose, including $800,000 for self-managed communities.

Housing is a human right.

No one should have to struggle to meet their basic needs.

We must prioritize developing a more inclusive and equitable Seattle in 2022. Thank you.

Okay just to be clear one hundred and ninety two million dollars included in this budget for affordable housing.

Many of those providers referenced are in the budget.

Look forward to talking more.

Kate apologies for calling you Katie.

Jordan followed by Tushar Karata.

Good morning.

I mean, good afternoon.

My name is Jordan Rere.

I'm with the West Seattle Community Safety Team, part of the Seattle Community Safety Initiative.

I'm calling for support of the Restore Funding to the Seattle Community Safety Initiative.

Part of the West Seattle Community Safety Initiative, what we do is we act as, you know, a deterrence for police and community, especially with minority youth.

Statistically speaking, when minority youth get called for lesser crimes, it escalates to a more felonious event.

We try to restore faith within the community with businesses and with the youth.

We also, like physically speaking, we actually brought down with local stores, petty stop lifting and helping young youth stay in school and helping their families find stability.

And that's all I just want to say.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much, Tushar, followed by Mimi Santos.

Hello my name is Tushar Khurana and I live in Morgan District 2. I'm calling to express my unequivocal support for the solidarity budget.

I'd like to live in a Seattle where everyone has adequate affordable housing where my neighbors aren't forced into living on the street and where folks aren't met with state violence within black brown native or poor which is why I support the solidarity budget.

In particular I'd like to highlight that the budget should ensure that funds for tiny house villages and encampments have spent only for that purpose, including the $800,000 for Nickelsville and Cher, Council should keep at least $45 million for the Social Housing Acquisition Fund, which is necessary for affordable housing.

In addition, we need to prioritize Indigenous sovereignty and we should allocate at least $1.5 million for mental and behavioral health for the Duwamish.

The Council should fund these social programs by defunding SPD by 50%, and that starts This budget was reducing STDs position authority to 750 officers and removing funding for vacant positions in the city attorney's criminal division.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mimi, followed by Jordan Berry and Camille Jicks.

Good evening, Mimi.

Hi, my name is Mimi Santos, and I'm part of El Centro de la Raza's afterschool program.

And I'm here in support of the budget amendment to reallocate resources to deal for culturally responsive afterschool programming for middle school and high school students.

It is such a privilege to be part of this program which creates a safe space for youth of color our Latinx youth feel heard empowered and invigorated to achieve whatever they dream.

The work extends beyond the students and academic support and really creates a community.

A place where once in the program whatever we need we have a place to go and people to reach out to.

The work in Centro de la Raza's after-school program does is so important and we encourage you all to vote yes in support of this of reallocation of funds.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jonathan followed by Camille.

Jonathan I'm not hearing you.

Star-6 to unmute.

Jonathan Berry.

Looks like you're still muted Jonathan.

Star-6 to unmute.

Let's tee up Camille.

Good evening Camille.

Star-6 to unmute.

Great.

Hi there Camille.

Hi my name is Camille Gix.

I am a student at the University of Washington living in District 3 and I'm also a part of the advocacy team at Real Change.

I'm calling in to first express my strong support for the public bathroom amendment.

We're very happy to see that that was included in the budget balancing package and it's just super important because not only will it help our unhoused population in Seattle but it also will help gig workers and sports fans, tourists, and anyone that is unable to spend money on coffee every time they need to use the bathroom.

We were, however, disappointed to see that all of Council Member Morales' budget amendments to housing were cut from the balancing package.

We know that the $45 million towards the Social Acquisition Fund is a big ask, but it is super necessary that we invest in housing as opposed to policing of our unhoused neighbors.

We need to work on Creating social housing would like to ask that council to add back even just a small, a relatively small amount to social housing to direct to the office of housing in order to.

Hi, my name is Dr. My name is Dr. Jonathan Barry.

I'm a renter in District 3. I'm a pediatrician who trained here in Washington.

and I work in several urgent cares in the area.

I'm calling to support all of the solidarity budget amendments in the balancing package, including shrinking SPD's budget by $10.9 million.

As a pediatrician, there are two parts of the solidarity budget that most strongly support children's health.

The first is all the Green New Deal proposals that are needed to face the scale of the climate crisis, including $13 million to help transition low-income homes off oil heat and support impacted workers.

Children who live in oil-heated homes are at risk for a number of health issues, including inhalation injuries and higher rates of asthma.

This proposal is a no-brainer for our children's health and their future.

In addition, studies have shown that guaranteed income provides huge benefits to low-income families and children.

The solidarity budget includes an additional $2.3 million for a guaranteed income pilot program so people can afford childcare, food, and more basics.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Nate Ondal followed by Elena Perez.

Nate.

Yes, thank you so much.

My name is Nate Ondal.

I am the lead organizer with the Musicians Association of Seattle, Local 76493, and I'm the chair of the Economic Development Subcommittee for the Seattle Music Commission.

I'm here in support of the proviso funding for the creative industry position in OED.

Just to sort of paraphrase a good friend and colleague of mine, Reese Tanimura, we need a leader in the arts right now.

There have been many efforts to sort of find a leader that we have been forced to pause.

And this proviso definitely, we feel, puts us back on track and will be a huge help as we look to be a big part of the recovery going forward.

So thank you so much.

Great.

Thank you very much, Elena, followed by Joe Riley.

Good evening, Elena.

Star six, Elena.

There we go.

Good evening, council members.

I'm Elena Perez with Puget Sound SAGE, urging you to protect our Jumpstart progressive revenue and direct that funding to the original spending plan, which included many community-driven priorities like the EDI and Green New Deal.

Alongside our partners and coalitions like SouthCore and the Solidarity Budget, we at SAGE fought hard for Jumpstart and progressive revenues because we know that police violence, the climate crisis, the COVID pandemic, and resulting job losses do not impact equally.

It is Seattle's Black Indigenous people of color communities low-income workers immigrants and refugees disabled workers and other marginalized individuals who are hit hardest.

Jumpstart passed overwhelmingly with spending priorities that were shaped by these impacted individuals and communities.

We urge you to remain firm and committed to fully funding Jumpstart's original spending plan.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Joe, followed by Jordan Goldmark.

Joe.

Hi, good evening, Councilor.

My name is...

Go ahead.

Yes, hi.

Hi, my name is Joe Riley.

I'm a first floor renter, and besides recommending you maintain Center City Streetcar funding, I'm testifying in support of funding the citywide integrated transportation plan to identify light rail corridors.

First Hill is one of the densest neighborhoods north of San Francisco with major medical centers but lacks a critically needed light rail station.

First Hill medical staff can only ride Northgate link light rail to Capitol Hill before facing a 15-minute uphill walk.

In fact, more than half of all of Seattle's urban villages and places like Belltown and Benny Triangle will never have light rail and will only add cars to the road unless the city plans for more light rail.

76% of Seattle wants a Sound Transit 4, and it's worth remembering that every light rail package is equally an affordable housing package.

when sound transit transfers land to affordable housing at no cost.

No other amendment today hits as many future policy birds with one stone as this, so if council members Juarez, Herbold, and Sawant would please consider joining your six other colleagues and add your name in sponsorship to S.004B001.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Jordan, followed by Rachel Schaefer.

Good evening, Jordan.

Hi, my name is Jordan Goldwarg and I'm a resident of District 4 and I serve on the City's Domestic Workers Standards Board.

I'm here tonight to request two things of the Council.

One, to maintain the $500,000 that is currently included in the Mayor's budget to help implement the recommendations of the Domestic Workers Standards Board.

And two, to adopt the budget resolution that would mandate the creation of a portable paid time off benefit for domestic workers.

It's been over two years since the city's groundbreaking domestic workers ordinance was passed, and despite much progress made, there's still much to do to protect the rights and dignity of domestic workers in our city.

To accomplish these goals, I ask the council to commit to maintaining the $500,000 that is currently included in the budget.

In addition, I urge council to pass the budget resolution concerning portable paid time off.

I am an employer of a house cleaner, and I'm willing to pay for portable PTO for domestic workers.

I also support the mandate in the resolution that says employers will pay for this benefit, because relying on employers to voluntarily provide this benefit will not be effective.

Thank you for valuing the essential work that domestic workers do.

Thank you.

Rachel, followed by Adriana Monroy.

Monroy, excuse me.

Rachel, good evening.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Rachel Schaefer, speaking for Cascade Bicycle Club.

We are really glad to see that so many amendments addressing safety and Vision Zero are moving forward in this year's budget.

As you've already heard many times this budget season we're not moving in the right direction on our Vision Zero goals and data shows that more people will die this year walking and biking on Seattle streets than any year since 2006. This is an equity issue since people and their families experiencing traffic violence are disproportionately low income and BIPOC individuals.

So maintaining the community-created spending plan for the VLF fund and the increase in the commercial parking tax are both essential to Vision Zero's success.

So thank you to all the council members who sponsored, co-sponsored, and made sure to include both of these in the balancing package.

While we're grateful to see an increase in these investments for the coming year, they do still represent the bare minimum to turn around this trend of serious injuries and fatalities on our streets.

So we must commit to these funding sources and additional ones in the future because we can't nickel and dime our way to safe streets for all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And before we go to Adriana I want to note for the record that Ines Gonzalez, Emily Pena, Sarah Soss, and Matthew Lauder are all listed as not present but you were next to speak.

We're going to go to Adriana Monroy.

Star 6, unmute.

star six to unmute, Adriana.

Si hablas espanol, estrella seis, estrella seis, Adriana.

Okay, si me oyen?

Si, gracias.

Y estamos aqui con Raul, quien puede traducir despues que hablas.

Okay.

Puedes empezar.

Okay.

uh um Esos recursos de contar con ellos, ya que por lo que uno no habla bien el idioma de este país, ellos se han atrasado bastante, se han sentido rezagados, y contar con ese apoyo después de la escuela es muy importante para ellos.

Por este motivo, yo quiero que tomen mi voz en cuenta para que este programa no termine y siga teniendo los mis recursos.

Gracias.

If you're able to translate.

I need tutors for my children because it's very important because they were very disenchanted, discouraged due to the pandemic.

And this has been, it's been like an incentive for us to continue.

wanting to and striving for them to reach their goals and all their objectives, including their study, their classes, it's very important for us to have and count and talent and have those resources due to the fact that when someone like myself, that we don't speak the language of this country, well, they themselves, they have fallen behind in school and they feel like really, really slowed down their learning.

And also, to be trusting on that support, it's very important for them.

Now, for this given reason, I would like and ask you to please consider my voice.

Yes, everything that I'm saying, that made this program not ever, not end, that is, and so that we can continue having the resources.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next is going to be Emily Pena, followed by Paul Patu.

Emily, welcome.

Star six unmute.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Hello, council members.

My name is Emily Pena and I'm the Meals Partnership Coalition Program Manager.

MPC supports the full Seattle Human Services Coalition recommendations and we're excited to see that HSD 005 has not only been included in the most recent budget draft but has been increased to fund current levels of emergency food programs for nine months into 2020 until backfill funding arrives through the Department of Agriculture.

Thank you to Council Member Herbold for sponsoring this amendment and to co-sponsor Council Members Morales Council Member Juarez and Council Member Pedersen for supporting this amendment.

I urge the rest of council members to support this amendment.

Demand for meals continues to stay high and meeting this basic need is imperative.

By having agencies that specialize in meal prep create meals for our community we know they will be nutritionally dense and culturally appropriate for the various sites they are created for.

So staff at those sites can continue to provide other necessary services they are experts in instead of focusing on cooking.

Keeping our most vulnerable community members fed is the least we can do and it is imperative that as a city we demand the right for nutritionally dense meals for all.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Paul.

Good evening.

Hello my name is Paul Patu with Urban Family and also a longtime resident community member in Seattle.

I'm here to advocate for the continued funding for the Seattle Community Safety Initiative and the 2022 budget amendment to the tune of $4 million.

The Seattle Community Safety Initiative is a community-led alternative solution for public safety that has hired, trained, developed, and deployed several community safety teams throughout Southeast Seattle, the Central District, and West Seattle to increase public safety with an emphasis on serving BIPOC communities.

We have had modest yet promising results in our first year and need the city to continue the course by investing and believing in community-led solutions for public safety.

I'd like to thank Councilmember Herbold, Councilmember Morales, and Councilmember Lewis for your support on this initiative.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

And I just want to note for folks on the list to testify, we're at number 25 out of four, excuse me, 276. Continuing with number 25, Jake Thrones, followed by Radhi Makobade.

Excuse me. pronunciation there.

Please go ahead Jake.

Hello my name is Jake Banas.

I use he him pronouns.

I live in District 2. I'm a grad student at the UW Evans School and I'm a current intern at the Duwamish at Duwamish Tribal Services.

I'm calling in support of the solidarity budget and ask that the council not take anything from the $10.9 million that will support social services and community development.

This investment in the health and well-being of the most impacted community includes two amendments that will positively impact the Duwamish Tribe.

One to invest in Indigenous-led sustainability upgrades to the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center and the other to expand mental and behavioral health care services to provide addiction rehabilitation and treatment programs for members of the Duwamish Tribe their immediate families and their extended families.

Addiction and mental health issues affect the whole family not just individuals themselves.

This amendment invests in Seattle's Duwamish community and ensures our tribal members have equitable access to adequate mental and behavioral health services that will allow Duwamish Tribal Services to manage, arrange, comprehend.

Thank you very much.

Please do send in the rest of your comments.

Randeethi followed by Hans Fink.

Good evening.

Thank you for this opportunity.

My name is Riti Mukhopadhyay.

I'm an attorney with the Sexual Violence Law Center, where we provide free, holistic legal assistance and representation to survivors of sexual violence and stalking in a number of legal areas, which are housing, employment, immigration, and other legal proceedings.

I'm asking you to support Amendment HSC-019B to maintain, if not increase, funding for survivor-driven advocacy.

Funding for programs even before COVID were not adequate to meet the acute and complex needs of survivors, and that need has certainly intensified over the past year, especially for BIPOC survivors, LGBTQ survivors, and survivors experiencing systemic barriers.

And gender-based violence programs like mine have experienced a significant uptick in the need for services.

At the beginning of 2020, in the first three months, our attorneys served 82 survivors.

This year in the same three month period we served 239 survivors and the needs continue to increase.

This funding is critical and I urge you to vote in support of survivor access to services.

Thank you.

Hans Fink followed by David Hines.

Hans.

You might be on mute on your own phone.

Can you double check?

Can you hear me?

Yes, thanks.

Yeah, I'm calling because it's time for law and order.

I don't feel safe anymore in the city and our businesses are failing because of the crazy proposals by others in there and we need real, real law and order.

What's happening is there's dangerous people on the streets and the city council is allocating way too much funding.

In fact, 26 times the funding of what they would need for progress on justice.

These dangerous people walk the streets with guns and badges and they go indiscriminately, often harassing and killing innocent BIPOC people.

They are the Seattle police and they're receiving an extra $10 million.

$10 million that they will just be a slush fund and that's $10 million that could be used towards supporting a Green New Deal and child care and support for the Duwamish mental health services as well.

You have a few more seconds.

So that's why we need to transition with the $13 million and not spend this ridiculous amount of money and the true law and order to protect people from crime and injustices.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

David, followed by Tiara Dearborn.

David, good evening.

Thank you city council.

I live in district seven pioneer square overrun by criminals and whack azoids and wicked annoyed that are like scaring people.

Anyway, the city council refuses to solve the homeless crisis of all these people unnecessarily suffering.

There is $70 million of COVID federal Clipper funds available right now to solve the homeless crisis.

Why does City Council want to redirect federal money, again, away from solving the actual homeless crisis to vote-buying projects that don't solve the homeless crisis?

City Council managed to pay off the George Floyd protestors with about $84 million and managed to buy off the homeless industrial complex that finances Council's re-election apparatus and all the activists who show up at City Council public comment, saturating the narrative and censoring and monopolizing their demands for money.

We need city council to use the COVID federal clipper funds and solve the homeless crisis right now.

The second winter of unavailable shelter, plus the public safety crisis down in my neighborhood in Pioneer Square requires police overtime to be.

Thank you, Tiara, followed by Doug Ito.

Tiara, good evening.

Hi, my name is Tiara Dearbone.

I am Seattle King County LEAD Program Director.

I'd like to thank the council and budget chair for restoring LEAD's current level of funding.

and for a modest increase during a very difficult budget year.

We will work very hard to equitably distribute services to communities who need it the most and we will remain prepared to further scale up LEAD should more resources be found either during this budget process or next year.

For now thank you for all of your hard work.

I will add as an enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes of Yahuascan Paiute origin I share my support of funding all of the needs of the Duwamish people as outlined by Duwamish tribal leadership.

Thank you council.

Thank you.

Doug, followed by Khalil Baldwin.

Good evening, Doug.

Doug, just hit star six, please.

Star six, Doug.

Khalil, we will tee you up to speak as well.

Khalil will be followed by Shantel Patu.

Hi, Doug.

Please go ahead.

Hi.

My name is Doug Ito and I'm going to be commenting on SLI on design review.

I'd like to thank the council for listening to what I'm going to say.

The Seattle design process is broken and it's time to fix it.

We urge City Council to fund SBCI to evaluate Seattle's design review program and its impacts on close coordination with diverse and organization diverse organizational and community stakeholders.

Architects are the people who understand what works and what doesn't work in the system and why.

They should be at the table to help make sure that the citizens get what they deserve a well-designed and beautiful city.

The evaluation should make the process more inclusive effective consistent and predictable.

The evaluation should also look at retraining staff so that the old bad habits don't continue to carry on.

Talk without action is meaningless.

This evaluation should lead to real legislation and administrative changes in 2022. The design review has become a tool that is used by neighbors and landowners We're against the intensity of the broader community and city goals.

So sorry, Doug.

Thank you very much.

Khalil, please go ahead.

Hi, my name is Kylia Baldwin with Puget Sound Sage and resident of District 1. I'm calling in support of the solidarity budget demand to deepen cuts to SPD and the city attorney's office and invest $750,000 for child care assistance to any child care provider.

Our city has grown exponentially over the past decades and in ways we hadn't expected.

But our city's resources have not adapted to community needs for progressive infrastructure.

Instead our city has continued to bloat police the police department and prosecutor's office budget rather than investing in actual support systems for our most vulnerable residents or even the majority of residents.

We know that police and prosecutors do not equate public health and safety.

It's time to put those dollars into programs that actually meet community needs like child care for all.

Like so many poor families and single parents, my mom had to quit her job 20 years ago and start working as a child care worker in order to access child care for me and my sister.

She continues to work in child care to this day, earning barely over minimum wage.

Instead of overfunding policing, recognize child care as essential infrastructure and invest in increased child care subsidies and funding for caregivers to make child care accessible.

Thank you very much.

Chantel, followed by Steven Roberts.

Good evening, Chantel.

Good evening.

My name is Chantelle Patu.

I'm with Urban Family.

I am a member of the Seattle Community Safety Initiative and I too am a long-term community member of Seattle.

I'm here to advocate for continued funding for the Seattle Community Safety Initiative for the 2022 budget amendment.

SCSI needs more time as an initiative to develop and gather data that will substantiate and contribute to the success of our work.

One year simply isn't adequate.

Nor does it provide the means to be efficient nor effective.

I urge you to consider including the Seattle Community Safety Initiative in our 2022 City of Seattle Budget Amendment.

Our BIPOC communities need safety representatives.

Just as the old adage states what you do for me what without me you do to me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, if you could send that information over, that would be great.

We only have the opportunity to fund 12 months at a time for the calendar year budget, so look forward to hearing more about the proposal and where there might be gaps in the 12 months ahead of us.

Stephen, followed by Bill Hackett.

Good evening, Stephen.

Good evening.

Hey, Council.

I'm Stephen Roberts.

I live in District 3, Capitol Hill.

I've lived here for two years, and I've seen that the homelessness crisis is getting worse and worse.

I think housing is a human right.

A lot of the people who live around here live near open homes that are luxury apartments built for essentially tech employees.

I think a lot of this budget should be angled towards helping people get off the streets.

A lot of the common sense $10.9 million cuts, the SPD budget, open slash should probably be put back into the budget.

The SPD's funding is kind of out of whack with the needs of the city.

In addition, transportation is a huge problem.

I think the city needs more transportation to meet the rising incoming numbers of people.

The streets are kind of becoming overrun by cars when cars should be guests in the streets and people should be put first.

Make the budget money going towards transit, rolling biking, walking are all common sense things that should be kept in the budget and focused on instead of policing.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thanks.

Thanks, Bill.

Reverend Hackett, you are listed as not present.

I'm going to go to Andra Lemon, followed by Giselle Lopez.

Good evening, Andra.

I'll draw.

Star six.

There we go.

And you might be muted on your own phone.

Sure am.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Audra Lehman, and I'm the Director of Workforce Development at Youth Care.

I'm calling in tonight to thank you for your support of educational and employment training for the young people we serve.

and to reiterate the importance of this work.

As you know we offer multiple programs focused on ensuring that the young people served by youth care have both the access and the skills needed to retain living wage careers in our extremely expensive city.

Programs like our customer service and barista training program partner with employers to not only create pathways into entry level employment but also to sustain and retain these young people in their new jobs.

Programs like our Free Apprenticeship Youth Build Program prepare young people for careers in the trades and we are building new partnerships and entry pathways with unions and contractors as the current workforce retires but the projects keep coming.

We appreciate your continued support of youth care and of the amazingly gifted creative strong and beloved young people that we serve.

Thank you.

Well thank you very much.

Giselle followed by Michael Whitmoth.

Good evening Giselle.

Good evening.

My name is Giselle Lopez and I'm a staff attorney of the nonprofit Kids in Need of Defense.

It's Seattle office.

We've been serving unaccompanied immigrant children who migrate alone and come to Washington since 2004. I respectfully request approval of the budget amendment for the LDN immigration legal services.

King County is seeing unprecedented numbers of unaccompanied children with about a 200 percent increase from 2020. Yet we have a long wait list of children needing attorneys.

These children deserve protection and due process.

They're not guaranteed attorneys in immigration court proceedings and many of our clients are from communities of color low income and in unstable housing situations meaning that they have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Immigration relief is key to qualifying for baseline services and recovery from the pandemic.

I'd also thank the council and especially council members Gonzalez-Mosqueda and Morales for supporting unaccompanied children and their families in Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you, and thanks for your advocacy.

Very happy that the Legal Defense Network is fully funded from the request of Council Member Gonzalez in the budget.

Michael, good evening, followed by Shamir Tana.

Good evening, Council.

I'm Michael Wilmarth, and I'm a renter in District 3. It's difficult to voice my support for all the things in 60 seconds, but I'm going to do my best.

I'm calling this evening to voice emphatic support for all the solidarity budget amendments, particularly the shrinking of SPD's budget by $10.9 million, and I urge the Council to seriously consider cutting it even more.

The mayor's conflation of policing with public safety is absurd and I hope council members remember the commitments they made in support of black lives last summer.

Talk is cheap.

Myriad crisis facing our city are intertwined systemic and far too often predictable outcomes of policy decisions made to benefit a privileged few.

It's unconscionable for instance that our city spends 26 times more on policing than it does on climate mitigating policy like Seattle's Green New Deal.

This is a choice.

Please put people in community over profit to the police.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thanks for calling in.

Shamir, you are going to be followed by Liz Hussar.

Good evening, Shamir, star six, unmute.

Shamir, star six, unmute.

Let's go ahead and tee up Liz.

Liz will be followed by Julia Baez.

Shamira I'll still watch to see if you come unmuted.

And in the meantime we're going to see if Liz if you can hit star-6 to unmute.

There we go.

Hi good evening council members.

This is Liz Waisar Youth Programs Manager at El Centro de la Plaza.

I'm here to show my support for the $2 million allocation for after-school programming that would be granted to DEEL.

As you have heard from some family and staff members already This program has an immense impact and it is intergenerational and crucial to the affordability for the folks that we're serving.

I want to share a brief story about the impact our program has.

And you can hear my daughter in the background.

During the summer of 2018 we welcomed a new cohort of middle school students at El Centro de la Plaza.

In 20 in total 20 young Latinos Latinas who had just completed 5th grade looked wide-eyed at us ready for the new world that awaited them.

We shared with their families the academic support we would offer the cultural activities and the field trips but really what stood out the most was their shock faces when we told them it was a cell phone-free zone.

Our youth understood they were being we were going to enter a world of independence and we are have been with them since 2018. A lot of them are now in high school and still come back and tell us about what they're experiencing and what they're hoping.

Thank you so much.

Please send the rest of your comments in.

Shamir, we see you unmuted.

Please go ahead.

Hi, my name is Shamir Tana, District 7, a member of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice.

I strongly support all the solidary budget amendments in the balancing package, including reducing SPD's budget by $10.9 million.

And frankly, we need much more.

There has to be options other than COPS because they center violent behavior and don't keep communities safe.

Solidary budget has multiple areas which need to be implemented.

I'm highlighting two.

First, on the courts and city attorney's office.

Do not grow the system.

We need to support the amendments to ensure that their office budget does not grow, that vacant positions are eliminated, and reporting provisos are put in place.

Two, the demand for environmental justice and implementation of the Green New Deal, which means measures including transitioning Seattle homes off of oil lease.

Solidary budget is a collective call and a plan for community-centered needs of the most marginalized, vulnerable Seattle residents.

It has to be this council's highest priority.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Julia will be followed by Sadie Scott-Hopson.

Julia.

Hello, Council.

My name is Julia Buck and I'm a homeowner in District 6.

I am calling in support of the solidarity budget and in particular I'd like to express my support for the solidarity budget recommendations for targeted student loan forgiveness for educators, and the anti-displacement fund for BIPOC educators.

I have numerous friends who work in education, and many of them have been forced to move across the lake, outside of Seattle, up north to Everett, because the city has become

Increasingly unaffordable.

It is valuable to have teachers who live in the communities where they teach.

And I worry that we risk losing these educators.

Seattle schools are in fact closing on Friday as sort of an unforeseen consequence of.

So.

I'd also like to support the public bathrooms measure and suggest that at least one of those public bathrooms be named the Jenny Birkin Archive.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sadie followed by Camille Baldwin-Bonnie.

Good evening Sadie.

Hello.

Hello.

I am a college student from District 5. I'm calling in in support of all the solidarity budget amendments in the balancing package including shrinking SPD's budget by $10.9 million.

I support any and all possible cuts to SPD's budget and the redistribution of that funding to community services that would help to provide housing child care and food support access to transportation and many more services for people who need them.

Additionally funding for services that would support Indigenous sovereignty and help to combat the environmental crisis are crucial as well.

I urge the council to keep their past promises about defunding the police and move towards real public safety for Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Camille followed by Cheryl Hendrick.

Good evening.

Hi my name is Camille and I'm a resident of District 5 and calling to support the solidarity budget.

I want to commend the City Council on a balanced budget that would invest in community safety initiatives restorative justice diversion programs response to gender-based violence alternate 9-1-1 responses and behavioral health funding.

However there's a huge gap a lack of mental health crisis response commensurate with the needs of Seattle residents.

This creates a gap in public safety.

leave Seattle residents without options and put them in danger as we know the chances of experienced police violence increase significantly for those experiencing a mental health emergency.

Additionally funding for housing has been pitted against equitable public safety needs.

It is imperative that the Gen Start funding is preserved and at the same time that funding for housing is not pitted against funding for participatory budgeting and other much needed priorities such as the equitable communities initiative.

I want to urge the council continue toward the goals meeting all the demands of the solidarity budget and.

Thank you.

And Cheryl Hendrick you're still as it is not present.

Moving to Holly Towns followed by Emily Cunningham.

Hello Holly.

Hello.

Yes it's Holly Towns.

I'm a 40 year resident of Seattle and a climate activist advocate.

I wanted to thank you for funding the integrated city transportation plan.

This will have a concrete impact on climate.

However I am really disappointed with the budget and it does not reflect a deep and driving desire to meet Seattle's 2030 climate goals.

Each year we postpone action makes the situation increasingly precarious and unhealthy for all.

Remember the heat wave and the smoke.

And we only have eight years to really turn this around.

Children and most young people are very discouraged about their future.

You have the power to increase funding for programs that will have an immediate and direct impact on our greenhouse gas emissions, such as low-income home oil to electric heat conversion.

You can for the most vulnerable while stepping up to really meet our climate goals.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Perhaps last in the presentation today was the over $14 million in Green New Deal investments, the conversion of libraries to cooling centers as we work on creating $192 million in affordable housing so that we can create greater density in the city.

So I look forward to talking more.

Thanks so much.

Sharon Hemel followed by Peter Ireland.

Emily?

If you're still unmuted please go ahead.

Oh.

Hi my name is Emily Cunningham.

I'm a member of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice and I live in District 3. I'm calling today in support of all of the amendments to the Solidarity Budget.

I support its commitment to divesting from policing to remove barriers to public safety and health.

I support the $10.9 million cut to SPD in the balancing package.

This is the bare minimum.

True justice requires much much more.

I support any amendments to ensure that vacant positions in SPD are eliminated, the city attorney's office budget does not grow, and that reporting provisions are put in place.

I support the solidarity budget and their recommendations for investments to honor the Duwamish people, past and present, and the land itself.

I support the solidarity demands for environmental justice and a Green New Deal that adequately addresses the scale of the climate crisis.

The mayor's proposed budget fails to address the safety needs of Seattle by neglecting the scale of the climate crisis and instead continues to over-invest in a failed system of policing with $26 spent on policing over every $1 spent.

Thank you.

Sharon followed by Peter Ireland.

Hi Sharon.

Hi.

Thank you.

My name is Sharon Hamill and I am a 30-year resident in District Number 2. I'm also a member of the Seattle Public Library Foundation and I just want to thank the council for investing in the library.

Seattle Public Library is sort of a cornerstone of our community fabric and we really appreciate your assistance in addressing its funding needs and encouraging the library to assist our community through engagement learning and support of all of Seattle residents.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much Peter.

Peter followed by Jason Walsh.

Hi, Peter, star six.

There we go.

Hi, my name is Peter.

I live in District 2. I'm calling in support of the solidarity budget.

I am appreciative of City Council's plans to cut $10.9 million from the bloated SPD budget and to invest in some of the priorities of the solidarity budget, including funding for restorative justice programs and affordable housing.

I do realize Council is getting criticism for reducing the police budget and there are complaints about slow 911 response times.

However, as we know, the number of police responding to 911 calls has not changed.

So however much SPD would like to blame City Council for their own delays, we know this is not the case.

I would like to call on Council to invest more significantly in improving alternative responses for mental health emergencies.

I would urge you to go beyond the minimal investment of simply developing an implementation plan and to instead fully fund an alternative response.

This is something that's been talked about for years without meaningful action.

So I would urge you to take action in this budget cycle to make it happen.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

Jason.

Jason followed by Marisol Ruiz.

Good evening Jason.

Good evening.

My name is Jason Keeham and I'm a renter in District 4. I'm speaking today in support of the solidarity budget and its commitment to addressing the crises of housing affordability and homelessness while also calling for investment improving walking, roaming, biking and transit in our city.

Housing and security and transportation are both social determinants of health with cascading effects on short and long-term health outcomes.

We need housing not suites and we need this council to act now to stand with our unhoused family members that will require $45 million allocated for social housing acquisition program and that $30 million is directed towards the equitable development initiative.

I also urge council to place a proviso on the Magnolia Bridge to study and ensure that design work must incorporate the city's climate and affordability goals.

These are just a few of the absolute essentials that the solidarity budget will address and I urge you to stand in solidarity with the people and adopt the budget and be part of the work to create a more equitable Seattle.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Jason.

Marisol.

Buenas noches.

Si puedes empezar.

Si.

Buenas noches.

Buenas noches.

Hi, my name is Marisol Ruiz and I am here representing my colleagues to ask that the budget be allocated for domestic workers and workers, since it will help us with the portable benefits that we are struggling with.

This will benefit all my colleagues in the industry, colleagues in the industry and domestic workers.

Ya que servirá porque muchos en este tiempo que tuvimos que pasar por el COVID y lo de la pandemia, muchos ni siquiera tenían ningún beneficio.

Fueron despedidas injustificadamente y sufrieron muchos problemas económicos para pagar sus rentas y para poder sobrevivir durante este tiempo, ya que no teníamos ningún beneficio.

Nos afectó mucho física y mentalmente.

Es por ese motivo que estamos aquí para apoyar el presupuesto económico.

As workers, we are essential during this time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please go ahead, Raul.

Yes, good evening.

This is Marisol Ruiz.

I am here.

I'm representing my colleagues, both male and female.

We're asking that they assign or they destined that they assign the money from the budget directed towards domestic workers.

male and female, due to the fact that it would help us.

It would help us with our benefits.

And for all these benefits that are so important that we're fighting, struggling for, this will benefit all of my colleagues, both male and female, from this industry of ours.

They're partners, both of them, both male and female partners for domestic workers.

Well, all this will act as and will help us because due to this hard times that all of us have been living through, They, of course, provoked because of the COVID-19.

And then some of my colleagues did not even rely.

They did not even have any type of benefits.

And some of them were even dismissed.

They were fired unjustifiably so.

And I would say, A lot of my partners, they have suffered the economic crisis that they have been going through, like to pay for their rent.

and to be able to survive this crisis at time, due to the fact then again we did not have any benefits to rely on during all this period.

It really, really affected us physically, spiritually, And that's the reason that we are here present, so that we can support that economic budget.

And due to the fact that us as workers, we represent a group of people that are essential for this type of time.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Gracias, Marisol.

The next three speakers are Alexis Silvia Robin Briggs and Bob Finlay.

Good evening, Alexis.

Hello.

Good evening.

My name is Alexis Silva, and I'm on the community engagement team for youth care, and I'm calling to thank you for your generous support of youth care's engagement centers in the proposed balancing back package.

I see the power of our engagement centers every day.

These are places where young people can come and get their health care needs met, educational needs, mental health services, and get their basic needs met, whether that's a hot meal, a shower, or a place to just exist.

We've seen extreme challenges due to COVID.

Places where you can go, like coffee shop lobbies, libraries, schools, all of a sudden we're no longer a viable option.

And our staff have been extremely stretched thin and responsible for taking over and providing youth with over 24 hours worth of care seven days a week.

We have been fighting these challenges and we have shown great resiliency with both our youth and our frontline workers and they've really shown through.

So thank you so much for providing this support and we continue to build a bright future for our clients and our staff and the city in the upcoming year.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Robin followed by Bob Finlay.

And Robin just star six unmute.

Hello, Council.

Thank you for including the integrated city transportation plan in the budget.

I think that will help us to plan a quality transit system that will reach everyone.

Please keep the Green New Deal funding in the budget, but I am disappointed that it does not do more to fund greenhouse gas reductions.

We have eight years between now and 2030, and we need to make significant progress every single year.

What kind of life are we setting our children up for?

What kind of lives are we ourselves going to have?

We have the resources, public and private, to make sizable reductions and meet our goals.

You didn't get us into this mess, but you are the people we elected to figure out how to get out.

Please reflect on what Seattle has done this year and whether you think that is enough.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bob, followed by Julie.

Good evening, Bob.

Thank you, council.

I'm from district 2. I'd like to take this opportunity to support the Seattle solidarity budget, in particular, the provisions for truly equitable public safety.

I do just want to say that.

Every dollar towards SPD goes towards an organization that is still under a consent decree, which is to say, since 2012, for almost a decade, cannot operate within the law.

And as recently as 2019, attempted to get out from under that decree and was told, no, you still don't operate within the law.

I'd like to point out, everyone talking about the solidarity budget, I'd also like to point out the IDT team study, the interdepartmental team study that shows that this is our tax dollars were funded this study that multiple government agencies said more than 50% of halls can be turned over safely to other agencies, to community-led agencies.

Thank you for your time, council.

Excuse me.

Thank you so much for calling in.

Followed by Kayla Jackson.

Hello, my name is Julie Buona and I am a resident of District 3 and a part of the Seattle Group for Police Accountability.

I'm calling today to express my support for the solidarity budget and the $10.9 million cuts to SPD.

Last year, most of the council members here committed to defunding SPD by 50%.

This is your time to honor that commitment.

The last year and a half have made very clear that community safety is not police or prisons.

It's housing.

It's food security.

It's mental health care.

It's Indigenous sovereignty.

It's climate justice.

Do not mistake last week's election as a mandate against defunding the police.

This election makes clear that the tide is changing and we are getting closer to creating a city where everyone can thrive.

Listen to us and honor your commitment to defunding the police.

$10.9 million is the bare minimum but it is necessary.

I urge you to make deeper cuts to policing, courts, and the city attorney's office.

We need to see some amendments for oversight and to shrink the city attorney's office as much as possible ahead of a Trump Republican taking over.

It's far past time for a change and solidarity budget is that change.

Divest in harm, invest in community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And before Kayla speaks, I just want to note the following four people are listed to speak but are not present right now.

Chyna Pule, Sandra Alvarez, Darlene Bryant, and Martin Spotted Bear.

Please go ahead, Kayla.

Hi, my name is Kayla Doxon.

I live in District 5, and I'm a program manager with Puget Sound Stage working on agricultural development issues.

I'm calling to let you know that I support the solidarity budget amendments and the balancing package along with many others who have called, which includes shrinking the SPD's loaded budget by $10.9 million.

I want options for someone to call other than the cops because they don't make my family feel safe.

And I want Seattle to build safety and resilience by investing in our BIPOC communities.

The mayor's proposed budget fails to address the needs of Seattle by neglecting the scale of the climate crisis and instead continuing to overinvest in a failed system of policing with $26 spent on policing for every $1 spent on Seattle's Green New Deal.

I'm also calling in today to support the Seattle Solidarity Budget's commitment to addressing the dual crisis of housing affordability and homelessness which includes $30 million for the Equitable Development Initiative which I believe will support community ownership and community-driven solutions to housing crisis.

Excellent.

Thanks for calling in.

Tracy, followed by Bob Williamson.

Good evening, Tracy Williams.

Star six, unmute.

Thank you.

Oh, you just said it again.

One more time, please.

Star six.

Great, thank you.

Hi, my name is Tracy Williams.

I'm a former resident at True Hope Village, and I stayed there for six months.

I'm now in my permanent housing and I just want to thank you guys for all the funding that you guys gave us to help us and I just want to say that we need more tiny houses like this to get the homeless people off the streets because there's a lot of homeless people on the streets and I don't want to see anyone pass away this year because I've been out in a cold and we do need more funding for tiny houses.

So if we can just get more help with getting people off the streets and tiny houses that would be wonderful or get hotels, something where people can get off the street.

I'm formerly a homeless person, but now I have my permanent housing with Low Income Housing Institute.

Thank you so much, Tracy, for calling in.

Bob, please go ahead.

Bob Star 6 unmute please.

Are we there?

Yeah, we can.

My name is Bob Williamson.

Okay, my name is Bob Williamson.

I'm a Vietnam veteran.

I was formerly, I formerly lived at Irving Tiny House Village.

And I was there from November of 17 all the way till the 1st of this year.

And I want to say the tiny house villages are what you guys need to keep building.

You need to keep working on those because they really did help me a lot.

I mean, I was on the verge of just about committing suicide because the homeless situation out here in these downtown shelters are a joke.

You have to leave every morning with everything you own.

And you try to go into a full-time job carrying everything you own with you every day, and it just gets old.

You have no dignity.

I mean, My situation was I was working late at night, getting out at two in the morning, and I couldn't, I had no place to sleep during me time.

They kick you out of those indoor shelters, they kick you out at five o'clock in the morning, six o'clock in the morning, and you have nowhere to go.

So I would say keep investing in tiny homes, it helps, because I'm in permanent housing now.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Darlene and Kayla, you're still listed as not present.

Martin Spotted Bear, followed by Vendra Dharavak.

Good evening, Martin.

Hi, my name is Martin Spotted Bear.

I'm from Browning, Montana.

I grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation.

I moved to Seattle to get clean after struggling with addiction for many years.

My brother and cousin, they both work at the Chief Seattle Club, and they connected me to Kings Inn, the club's hotel shelter in downtown Seattle.

After settling in their room, I checked into Valley Cities and completed a 28-day treatment program.

And it's really hard to live at Kings Inn since it's a low-barrier facility where people openly use drugs and are drinking everywhere.

So I moved into an apartment but couldn't pay rent.

So now I'm living and working at Eagle Village.

I ask that you please support Chief Seattle's request to create a 15-bed clean and sober shelter in Soto.

It would be invaluable resources for me and hundreds of other Native people trying to get and stay clean.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Excuse me, Vandrana.

Good evening, followed by Petra Colanderes.

Hi, good evening, council members.

This is Vandrana Durakovic with Sound Generations.

And tonight I'm speaking in support of HSC 011 funding for the East African Senior Center.

As well as HSE 007 amendment the one-time general fund dollars for HSE to contract with a nonprofit for a hybrid meal delivery program for seniors.

The East African Senior Center funding of only $130K would really go a long way to serve a community hard hit by COVID-19 systemic racism and discrimination and a community that has been asking for more services and support for many years.

It is long overdue that we prioritize our East African elders.

and enable them to thrive and age with dignity.

The hybrid meal program is also a modest task yet its impact would be large as it would deliver a much-needed service to the most vulnerable and tackle inequities in food access.

Food insecurity among seniors is at an all-time high so being able to deliver nutritious fresh meals would be really improve the lives of many.

So thank you for your time and for support.

Thank you very much.

Petra you are up next.

Star 6. Petra's followed by Sean Blackwell and Jasara Schroeder.

Petra you're still on mute.

Star 6 to unmute.

There we go.

Sorry about that.

Hi everyone.

My name is Patrick Salindrez and I'm with Seattle Indian Health Board.

I'm asking Seattle City Council to support our produce prescription pilot.

our Thunderbird Treatment Center Community Participatory Design Survey, and our Lake City Clinic Expansion.

We're asking for a request of $500,000 to launch a culturally attuned produce prescription pilot.

As a dietician, this is near and dear to my heart.

This prescription pilot will address food insecurity to prevent chronic diseases among BIPOC communities and will be able to support 400 households over a 12-month period to make sure they're getting the nutrition that they need.

Also our third Thunderbird Treatment Center is requesting $200,000 to conduct a community participatory design survey to aid the pre-architectural design process for Thunderbird Treatment Centers.

This Thunderbird Treatment Center will address gaps for culturally specific and patient behavioral health Seattle.

In our Lake City expansion we're requesting $100,000 in the supplemental budget for the Lake City.

We also would like to urge the council to include funding for Chief Seattle's Clubs Clean and Sober Housing and SODO and funding

Thank you very much.

Please send in the rest of your comments.

Sean, Sean star six to unmute, followed by Jasara Schroeder.

Sean star six to unmute.

There we go.

Good evening.

My name is Sean Blackwell, and I work for LEAD as a project manager.

LEAD is sincerely appreciative of the council's support during such a challenging moment.

Thank you.

LEAD is an evidence-based public safety, public health framework which includes operationalized channels of communication and coordination between, first and foremost, the community itself and a network of community providers and first responders.

We need everyone at the table to win this fight against this public health crisis.

With the support of the council, the LEAD framework will continue diverting individuals with behavioral health challenges out of the criminal legal system into wraparound case management services and into housing.

This evidence-based alternative approach, this framework, is perhaps the best approach the community can provide to help the true blood population, which will never be served by the current cycle of arrest and release, arrest and release that happens every day.

Again, I thank the council for its continued support.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

And Jasara, you are followed by Dennis Sills.

Jasara, star six on you.

Hello.

Hi.

Hello, can you hear me?

Hi, good evening.

My name is Jessara Schroeder, and I'm currently staying at Sheriff's Tent City 3, and I want to speak on homelessness.

I want to state that SHARE supports the people's budget and the solidarity budget.

SHARE's organizational focus is expanding democratic, self-managed, community-based tiny house villages and encampments.

With how many homeless are currently on the street, SHARE and we are also eager to start a new tiny house village or encampment to help people out in 2022. For the 2021 budget, the city council set aside $800,000 for community-based tiny house villages and encampments.

It was greatly appreciated, and I'd also like to ask the council to set aside another $800,000 for the same purpose, for the proviso that the money can only be spent on this stated purpose.

Because of that 2021 decision, SHARE was able to get HSC to release funding for Tent C3 in Nicholsville.

That was the first time Tent C3, at least, had received any money from the city and was around for 20 years, and this city is also our home.

So thank you so much for the previous funding.

Please continue to support and thank you for your time.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

Dennis followed by BJ Last.

Good evening.

My name is Dennis Sales and I work at Plymouth Housing, a permanent supportive housing provider that houses more than 1,200 chronically homeless individuals in our region.

Plymouth supports the balancing package that ensures that ongoing Jumpstart investments in affordable housing are protected.

Plymouth also thanks Chair Mosqueda for introducing and Council for considering appropriating $4.4 million of the CLFRF support services for new residents at new permanent supportive housing projects set to open in coming months.

We're also grateful for that the proposed budget includes a $5.3 million one-time increase to be distributed proportionally to eligible contracts in 2022. This provision offered by Chair Mosqueda supports frontline housing workers who cannot work remotely and supports competitive wages to help providers find skilled workers to assist homeless populations.

I'm going to submit written comments and thanks to Council for the opportunity to comment.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Dennis, followed by BJ Lass.

Oh, hello, BJ.

Go ahead, please.

Hello, my name is B.J.

Lass.

I'm a Ballard resident and small business owner.

I support all of the solidarity budget amendments in the balancing package, including the $10.9 million reduction to SPD's budget.

That reduction allowed Council to expand investments in housing, behavioral health, crisis response, food access, public bathrooms, and more.

I ask Council to take additional reductions to SPD's bloated budget to fund priorities the community identified in the solidarity budget, like building additional safe sidewalks.

Sidewalks keep people safe from being hit by cars, not SPD.

Sidewalks move the city closer to Vision Zero, not SPD.

I live a few blocks away from an area that doesn't have sidewalk.

It's not a safe area to walk in, in the dark, in the rain, or really any time at all.

You have to walk in the street, dodging cars.

I also support amendments ensuring the budget for the city attorney's office does not grow, eliminates vacant positions, and imposes reporting providers.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

Thank you very much.

And I'm just going to scroll up here.

I want to let folks know it's 7.02.

You're on caller number 68. Madam Clerk, just wondering, do I need to pause here or do we have a certain time in which you'd like to pause to take a break?

That's 7.30, Council Member.

7.30.

Thank you so much.

We will continue on.

Rodolfo, excuse me, going up the line here.

Marty Jackson, followed by Pena O'Grady, and then Triana Holiday.

Good evening, Marty.

Hello?

Hi, Marty.

Oh, excuse me.

Hi, Sarah.

I didn't see you there.

I apologize.

Please go ahead.

That's okay.

Yes, I'm number 67. So hi my name is Sarah Floyd and I'm a resident of District 7. I am asking the council to please include the Seattle Indian Health Board request of $500,000 to launch a culturally appropriate produce prescription pilot.

This will help with nutrition security which has obviously worsened since the pandemic but also address the health disparities faced by both American Indian and Alaskan Native community members.

In addition, I support the two other requests from the Seattle Indian Health Board to increase health care access for American Indian and Alaska Native communities through the design process of the Thunderbird Treatment Center and by expanding their Lake City Clinic.

These three projects are important for prevention and reducing disparities in health and well-being.

Thank you so much to the council for your time.

Excellent.

Thanks for calling in.

Now we'll go to Marty.

Marty, star six to unmute, followed by Pino Grady.

Seeing Marty on the screen here, Marty will be followed by Triana Holiday.

Marty, looking for Marty.

Excellent.

Hi, Marty.

Star six to unmute, please.

Hi.

Hello, my name is Marty Jackson, and I'm with the Boys and Girls Club of King County, also the safety hub director for the South End for Seattle Community Safety Initiative.

Want to first thank the city council members for your support in funding the Seattle Community Safety Initiative this year.

I am asking for your continued support by approving 2022 budget amendment to add $4 million general fund to HSB for the Seattle Community Safety Initiative and impulsive proviso.

The initiative is a community-led place-based non-arrest approach to public safety.

There have been a number of positive impacts such as providing over 50 jobs to members of our community.

Also stronger partnerships in alignment with Grassroots Org.

Organizations providing safety support to our neighborhood schools businesses and families and at funerals as well as other community events.

We have also faced some challenges that we are all working through together with our community to address and find solutions.

In order to do this we need more time to continue our collective efforts in order to produce long-term collective impact.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Pini followed by Triona.

Penny.

I apologize.

Penny O'Grady.

Hi.

I'm Penny.

I live in District 6 and support Solidarity Budget.

Last night Council Member Strauss hosted a town hall that made the case for growing behavioral health services and the need to scale up non-police responses like mobile crisis teams.

We know what works but social service workers are underpaid.

There is a staffing crisis and insufficient funding.

Meanwhile SPD's budget oozes extra funds to pay people there is no realistic plan to hire.

Their ambitious goal to hire 125 foreign officers next year still leaves us an extra $19.4 million in their salary budget.

More funding for pretend police won't feed heal or house people or keep us safe.

Vacant positions should be eliminated.

Thanks for the $10.9 million cut to SPD in the balancing package.

I support any amendments that keep the city's attorney's office budget at current size and make use of reporting provisos.

Thank you, Council, for all your hard work.

Thank you very much, Penny.

Triana, good evening.

Triana is followed by Rodolfo Martinez.

Good evening, City Council and everybody.

I want to say that, you know, when we came together as a community, we saw hundreds and thousands of people hit the streets in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.

for the large call around black lives mattering.

And there was a initiative and movement by city council to really say that we need to put money toward these efforts.

We need to actually invest in communities that have historically been divested from.

And I am a bit concerned at some of these proposals that do not actually allow that to happen.

When we think about elevating material conditions of black families and indigenous families, oftentimes, we understand that that's going to require direct investment.

I am encouraging Council to hold true to the promises made to the people when everybody was in the streets and also not utilize Black Lives Matter as an emblem or something that was trendy but do the work that's necessary to invest in those communities and I support any amendments that are doing exactly that and not are not

Thank you.

The next person is Rodolfo Martinez, followed by Derek Belgrade.

Hola.

Mi nombre es Rodolfo Martinez.

Soy padre de dos estudiantes que participan en el programa después de la escuela del Centro de la Raza.

Estoy aquí para pedirles, nos sigan apoyando con el programa porque motiva a nuestros hijos a tener como meta llegar a la universidad.

Y creo que este tipo de programas son importantes para lograr tener personistas exitosos.

Y el Centro La Raza es uno de ellos.

Gracias y buenas noches.

Gracias, Rodolfo.

Yes, hello.

This is Rodolfo Martinez.

I am a father of two students.

They're participating in the program after their school, after Centro de la Raza.

I am here present to ask you that you continue supporting us with this program because it motivates our children to continue full speed ahead and to reach their goals, to reach the university status.

I believe that this type of programs are important so that we can, everybody can achieve and gain success, to be successful that is, and Centro de la Raza is one of those programs.

Thank you and have a pleasant evening.

Thank you so much.

I am going to say gracias a lo de nuevo.

Derek Belgrade followed by Christopher Anderson.

Please go ahead.

Boozhoo everyone.

I'm Derek Belgard executive director for Chief Seattle Club.

I'm an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon and Chippewa Cree for Montana.

I want to thank the council for including funding for our longhouse at North Seattle College which will serve more than 3,500 people each year.

Today I'm asking the council to fund one million dollars for property acquisition for clean and sober housing.

We've made great strides with our low barrier shelters but many of our relatives need culturally responsive clean and sober housing for continued healing and recovery.

Funding this allows us to activate this space and begin the development for transitional housing for up to 30 of our relatives every year.

Finally we ask that you support our partner Seattle Indian Health Board in their produce prescription pilot Thunderbird Treatment Center design survey.

and their Lake City Clinic expansion.

These projects are essential to our community and will enhance our projects and programs of the Chief Seattle Club.

Keep it quick.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Wonderful to hear from you.

Christopher Anderson.

You are followed by Ashley Conair.

Good evening Christopher.

Good evening, Budget Council members.

My name is Christopher Anderson.

I'm calling from SHARE's Bunkhouse Shelter in District 2. SHARE supports both the People's Budget and Solidarity Budget.

Our organizational focus is expanding democratic self-managed and community tiny house villages and encampments.

Besides SHARE and Wheel of Ten City 3, we're also eager to start a new encampment and tiny house village this year.

With concerns about the eviction moratorium, we ask that you please keep the $800,000 for the community-based tiny house villages and encampments in the 2022 budget.

Please also add a proviso that requires any money set aside for this purpose to be spent only for this purpose.

It wasn't until October of this year that money for this purpose was released by HFC to share.

Next year we want to hit the ground running and this proviso would help.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

Chris, excuse me.

Ashley, I see you up next here.

I'm just checking in to make sure that I am on the right line here.

Ashley, I see you unmuted.

Why don't you go ahead?

Yes.

Hi City Council.

My name is Ashley Cornier and I'm a case manager at the YMCA in West Seattle.

I'm here in support of restoring funding for Seattle Community Safety Initiative.

More funding for SESI means that more youth, especially who are at risk, youth of color, will have the opportunity to get the support they need when it comes to their goals and needs.

The support that SESI gives means that youth in our community, they're kept safe, they're kept empowered, they're given a voice, they're given the tools they need to be independent and successful, and are able to get the help they need when it comes to mental health, housing, access to food in their mouth, clothing to put on their backs, jobs that will help them become more stable, and support their families.

The list goes on.

Supporting more funding means more jobs, means more public safety, more community presence, and most importantly, less youth in the streets, in jail, and dead, or dead.

These kids are gonna do right.

A lot of them just need SES to push them to the fullest potential.

So just really think about a program that really has impacted your life as a young person.

That's who we are.

We're asking that you support more SESI funding.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I wanna note that Anthony Blue Horse Ventina Trejo.

Sean Glaze.

All listed to speak but not present.

We're going to move to Danica Adams followed by Kim Holland.

Danica.

Hi my name is Danica Adams and I am a Community Safety Specialist with the Seattle Peace and Safety Initiative.

As a Community Safety Specialist my job entails engaging with at-risk youth and connecting them to our case managers so they receive the resources and support they desperately need.

I'm also part of the critical response team, which responds to crises that occur in our communities.

We know that gun violence in King County has reached record numbers and that the victims are overwhelmingly black and Latino.

We also know that gun violence in underserved communities are indicative of failed systems, politicians, and local officials.

This includes allowing gentrification, underfunded schools, and not funding community-based organizations.

This is why it is vital to continue to fund organizations that are committed to interrupt violence in our underserved communities by using a public health approach.

In fact, we need to elevate the epidemic of gun violence in the Black and Brown communities with a public health approach just as they have confronted the COVID crisis.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Kim, followed by Malou Chavez.

Good evening council members.

My name is Kim Holland and I'm here today to voice my support for Amendment H.S.B. 019B which adds one point five million dollars for survivor driven advocacy services to survivors of gender based violence.

While we recognize the revenue shortfall the original request of three million dollars is still urgently needed.

I urge the council to at least maintain this critical funding and if at all possible to increase it.

I've been working with survivors of gender-based violence for nearly five years.

First as an advocate and now as a director.

Domestic and sexual violence are among the top precursors to housing instability mental health issues and substance use.

Survivor-driven advocacy is an evidence-based strategy shown to increase the health and safety of survivors especially those most marginalized by racism poverty and other systemic inequities.

I urge you to support survivor-driven advocacy by at least maintaining funding 019B.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Malou, followed by Velma Valoria, Representative Velma Valoria.

Good evening, Malou.

Good evening.

Thank you for this opportunity.

My name is Malou Chavez and I serve as Deputy Director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

We are thankful to you all for investing in services for our community.

In particular, thank you to Council Members Gonzalez, Mosqueda, and Morales for adding the full amount in the balancing package to continue investing in the legal defense network.

And we ask that you keep that level of funding as you finalize the budget.

The legal defense network is a critically important city program that provides immigration legal services to city residents and workers who are facing potential deportation from our community.

We are grateful there was a letter in support of the continued funding that we hope you all receive and we appreciate the level of support.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in tonight.

Representative Delma Valoria, thank you for calling back in.

I'm sorry, I didn't see your name on the list.

We usually go to current and former electives.

Good evening, Representative.

Hello, Chair Bosqueda and members of the Council.

How are you this evening?

My name is Delma Valoria.

I'm with the Filipino community of Seattle.

I'm a former state legislator and a resident of District 2. Filipino community of Seattle is also a member of the Graham Street Community Action Team.

Thank you to Chair Mosqueda and members of this for this thoughtful budget.

Thank you too for supporting affordable housing investment including land acquisition.

Please keep it in the budget.

I also ask that you increase funding anti-displacement strategies by dedicating 30 million dollars to the equitable development initiative.

Funding of EDI will greatly impact the completion of a project by funding for capacity building as well as providing funds for capital.

Thank you.

I urge you to please increase the investment in EDI.

Thank you.

Thank you, Representative.

We are at line 84, Alicia Finch, followed by Marilyn Yim.

Please go ahead, Alicia.

Star six send you.

Okay.

I'm Alicia.

with the Seattle Indian Health Board.

I'm a Spokane tribal descendant and I will be addressing several budget amendments for urban Indian organizations.

We ask you to please support the Seattle Indian Health Board's three budget amendments and their continued work towards health and wellness for urban American Indians and Alaska Natives.

I ask you for a $500,000 request for a culturally attuned pilot produce prescription program.

And we also thank you to Council Members Juarez, Morales, and Strauss including the funding for the Lake City Clinic Expansion Project which is set to serve 3,000 elders.

And thank you for the allocation for community participatory design for our Thunderbird Treatment Center.

I also ask that you consider these amendments to also include funding for other urban Indian organization requests such as Chief Seattle Club's Clean and Sober Housing in Soto and funding for the Longhouse at North Seattle College.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Mari Marilyn.

will be followed by Robin Thompson.

My name is Marilyn Yim from Seattle Grassroots Landlords and I'm calling to thank Council Members Lewis and Strauss and the co-sponsors of the two SBCI budget amendments to fund a rental market study and to convene a small landlord stakeholder group.

The pandemic has dealt a deadly blow to the affordable housing managed by struggling small mom-and-pop housing providers.

I'm encouraged that the council is finally acknowledging the value we provide to our community and that you're taking action to collect and analyze data on changes to the rental housing market.

I did want to call attention to a change that will assign one of the very few spots in the landlord stakeholder group to a tenant activist.

This might be more understandable if it was balanced by greater intentional inclusion of small housing providers on established commissions and committees and in larger housing policy conversations.

We've been systematically denied access to our city government for years.

So I'm hopeful that this group will continue beyond next July with greater and ongoing engagement and that we will have a larger role in considering future legislation and changes that will benefit everyone.

We stand ready to work together to open more opportunities for small-scale, locally-owned rental housing.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And before we go to Robin, I want to note that Brandi Flood, Rachel Brown, and Richard or Ricardo Queroz is not present.

Ricardo, Rachel, and Brandy.

We're going to move on to Robin Thompson, followed by Beth Burnham.

That would bring us to number 91. Please go ahead, Robin.

Hi, my name is Robin Thompson.

I'm a renter in Beacon Hill and Assistant Director at Clean Greens Farm and Market.

I'm speaking today in complete solidarity of the people's budget.

Rent in Seattle has increased by 25 percent.

Over 50 percent of the African-American Black community has been displaced from the Central District.

In this time billionaire wealth has increased by 62 percent.

Please increase the Amazon tax and allocate it for affordable housing and community needs.

Council Seattle needs you to show up for working people.

Seattle needs you to show up in actual support of Black lives.

by providing bridge funding to New Hope and Low Income Housing Institute's affordable housing programs.

Give $200,000 to Clean Greens Farm and Market who provides free fresh local produce to community members in need of food support.

These are solution-based programs to these problems.

Please vote in support of these solutions.

Please take money away from Seattle Police and give to housing services to actually make Seattle safer.

Thank you very much.

I will double check, but I believe all of those items that you referenced are included in the budget, so we will follow up.

Rachel Brown, excuse me, Beth Boonham.

Good evening.

Hello, my name is Beth Birnbaum and I live in District 4. I wanted to speak regarding the closure of the Laurelhurst Community Center.

I would like to ask the City Council members respectfully to support Council Member Peterson's proposal to retain $190,000 for community center programming.

Prior to a COVID-driven closure the Laurel Horse Community Center offered more than 39 classes of programming for toddlers through senior citizens and the center is used by multiple northeast neighborhoods and a diverse population.

Neighborhoods like the University District are substantially more dense and more racially diverse than Seattle as a whole and needed and deserve affordable recreation programming and meeting space.

Other community centers north of the Ship Canal are under construction for the next few years which drastically reduce public affordable programs and meeting space.

Thank you for listening and for your service to our city.

Thank you for your time tonight as well.

We're going to do Rachel Brown, followed by Colleen McAllar and Christina Diego.

Good evening, Rachel.

Hello, my name is Rachel Brown.

I'm the board president of Seattle Subway.

I'm also a renter, a full-time student, and a District 3 resident.

Seattle Subway is an all-volunteer nonprofit advocating for more rapid transit in our city, and we're testifying in support of Council Budget Action FDOT 004B001 to allow FDOT to perform long-range rail planning in Seattle beyond Sound Transit 3. I request that you all co-sponsor this amendment.

More than half of Seattle's urban villages are left out of SP3 and we can't leave any neighborhood out of fast renewably powered light rail.

Regional Sound Transit leadership will never prioritize that Seattle investment and we need the city to be a championship for ourselves.

The city was a catalyst for ST3 with the Ballard to downtown expansion study in 2014. And today we need to be sure the city approves this funding to connect all of Seattle to our subway network with exclusive right of way rail.

76% of Seattleites support light rail expansion in our rapidly growing city to address traffic and climate crisis.

Thank you very much.

The next speaker will be Colleen.

I see we have Anne on the list.

Anne was listed as not present.

Anne you're here so please go ahead.

I see you unmuted.

I've been working with Chief Seattle Club for over 10 years.

It's been humbling to witness our growth as we continually expand services for homeless American Indians and Alaska Natives.

We now have 90 units of shelter open with 400 units of affordable housing open within two years.

Both of our current shelters are low barrier meaning we don't have rules around using drugs and alcohol.

This year we've served 180 people at our shelters and 86 percent of them have substance abuse and mental health issues.

It is almost impossible to get clean and stay clean when you're living with so many people that are using.

I've been sober for 34 years and during my initial days weeks and years of sobriety I needed to be around people who supported my journey into wellness.

Please support Chief Seattle Club's $1 million dollar request to purchase property in Soto and build a 15 — 16 and sober shelter.

I've seen many of our members start on the Red Road to Robiety only to relapse over and over again.

The property owner is willing to sell to us.

If we don't purchase the site within the next 90 days, we will miss out on this opportunity.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We're now on to Colleen.

Colleen will be followed by Christina Diego.

Good evening, Colleen.

Colleen, star six to unmute, please.

Star six.

Thank you.

Yes good evening Council.

I am representing 2,800 residents and 1,303 more to go of our neighborhood community center which is planned to be closed with the budget this year.

We ask that you support Council Member Peterson's amendment to retain programming.

The Seattle Parks and Recreation has a 25 percent increase in their budget that plans to close just one of the community centers which rehab the 39 classes of programming from tots to isolated seniors and serves the adjacent elementary school whose students are 45 percent of color and provides open play for kiddos in much needed public space.

From birth to age 5 a child's brain develops to 90 percent of its capacity more than any other time in its life.

And the quality and the breadth of a child's experience has shaped the brain to develop into healthy adults.

This budget would cancel that opportunity for these children to participate in programming and stimulating environments.

Seniors also benefit by extending their brain and the flexibility of their bodies to exercise regularly with affordable exercise.

And the Lifelong Recreation Advisory Council recommends that we do not close this act.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate you calling in.

Please send the rest of your comments as well.

Christina you are up next.

Please go ahead.

Hello my name is Christina Diego and I'm an enrolled member of the Colville Tribe and an employee with the Seattle Indian Health Board.

I would like to thank Councilmember Juarez, Councilmember Morales, and Councilmember Strauss for including our Thunderbird Treatment Center Community Participatory Design Survey and our Lake City Clinic expansion in the proposal.

I would also like to request an amendment to include our $500,000 to launch our produce prescription pilot, which is a culturally attuned prescription.

that will serve over 400 households over a 12 month period.

This will address food sovereignty and address the food insecurity experienced by 25 percent of our population.

And we would provide evaluated research from our urban health institute but also like council to support Chief Seattle's request for their clean and sober housing in Soto and funding for their longhouse at North Seattle College.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

So I wanted to give a quick update on where we are at.

We are going to take three more speakers and then do a quick break.

So Pastor Robert Jeffrey and then Ankur Dohut followed by Kim Lundgreen.

Pastor Robert Jeffrey, please go ahead.

Hello, council.

My name is Robert Jeffrey.

I'm a senior pastor at New Hope Baptist Church.

I'm calling in support of the solidarity budget.

I'm also calling in support of the tiny houses in Lehigh.

I'm also calling to ask council to support the partnership between New Hope Development Institute and Lehigh to purchase the Square Park plaza.

We cannot allow this building to get into the hands of private developers and push more and more African-American people into the street and to become homeless.

Lehigh is presently going to ask the council for a bridge loan in the first part of next year in order to make sure that this acquisition is done.

And I'm also calling in support of Clean Greens Farm and Market.

I appreciate all of the support the council has done in the past, and I look forward to next year and council working with Lehigh and the New Hope Development Institute to stop gentrification.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Pastor Jeffrey.

Ankur Dhoot, good evening.

Hi, my name is Ankur Dhoot, and I'm here to support Vision Zero and the solidarity budget.

As part of Vision Zero, the city is aiming for zero traffic deaths per year by 2030. Unfortunately, we're moving in the wrong direction.

This year is projected to have the highest number of traffic fatalities in 15 years, the majority of those being pedestrian and cyclist fatalities.

I encourage the council members to increase funding for Vision Zero, including the mayor's vehicle licensing fee spend plan proposal, as well as increasing the commercial parking tax to fund Vision Zero.

I support the solidarity budget, which would make heavy investments into public transit, cycling, and pedestrian infrastructure.

Additionally, we know that the city's current infrastructure is not equitably distributed.

Over half of cycling and pedestrian deaths have occurred in southeast Seattle.

Therefore, I support additional investments into the south side, which includes making more space for people walking, biking, and rolling on Lake Washington Boulevard and Martin Luther King Way South.

In addition to safety, Seattle must increase funding for Vision Zero and pass a solidarity budget if we are to meet our climate commitment.

With two-thirds of our emissions coming from transportation, we must make it easier for people to get around without cars and use lower emission and active forms of transportation.

Excellent, thank you so much for calling in today.

Kim Lundgren, we have you listed as not present and appreciate the opportunity to hear from anybody who is listed as not present.

So let me summarize the last few folks who were not present as well.

I think we ended with Ricardo, so let me summarize the next six people that were not present.

Kamara White, Michaela Hertz, Pastor Lawrence Willips, You are all listed as not present.

We would very much like to hear from you when we return from our break, if you do dial in.

For any members of the listening public who are signed up to provide public testimony this evening, it is at 7.30 p.m.

We will come back to this Zoom at 7.40, a 10-minute break, starting with caller number 103. Do dial in, so we don't skip you if you're not present.

See you all in 10 minutes.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

Excuse me, let me just pull us back together at 742, 742, to give a full 10 minutes to everyone.

Hearing no objections, the public hearing will be in recess until 742 today, November 10th.

And hearing no objections, we are in recess.

See you in 10 minutes, everyone.

you you you 2 PM.

We have just taken a recess and we will reconvene.

The Select Budget Committee meeting is now back in session.

We'll continue with the callers who are on our list in the following order.

Penny Lipsu, Fred Kade, and Kim Lundgren.

Good to see your face, Council Members.

Thanks for joining.

Good evening.

Penny, you are up first.

Hi this is Penny.

Great.

Hi.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much Chair Mosqueda, council members and staff.

My name's Penny Lipsue and I'm a resident of District 7 and I work for the American Heart Association.

I'm here to ask the council to please include the Seattle Indian Health Board's request of $500,000 to launch a culturally attuned produce prescription pilot program.

I'd like to thank Council Member Morales for championing this and Council Member Warren, Herbold and Lewis for their support.

This program is a targeted approach to address food insecurity and to treat and prevent chronic diseases among BIPOC communities.

We've seen nutrition security and health disparities greatly worsen during the pandemic and this program directly addresses these health disparities with a holistic model.

We also support the Seattle Indian Health Board's participatory design process of the Thunderbirds Treatment Center and their Lake City Clinic expansion.

These are oh thank you.

You have another few seconds.

Oh, I just want to say these three products are very important for prevention and in preventing disparities in health and well-being.

Thank you all so much for your work.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for waiting through our recess as well.

Fred, followed by Kim Lundgren.

Good evening, Fred.

Star 67, Fred.

Star six.

Oh, perfect.

There you go.

Hello, city council.

My name is Fred K and I'm currently staying at Georgetown Tiny House Village.

I have to say that being here has helped me immensely.

I had severe health problems and was able to recuperate after three surgeries because I had a warm tiny house to come back to.

Thanks to the stability of the village, I was able to get a full time job, And now the case managers who work on site are helping me find permanent housing.

I don't think I would be in this opportunistic situation if I didn't have my tiny house.

Members of the council, you can help so many more people by funding more tiny house villagers and adding funding to those that already exist.

Don't let your opportunity to do good in your community pass you by.

Don't let those suffering from health problems stay on the streets.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much for calling in tonight.

Kim.

Kim Lundgreen followed by Manny Rocha.

Good evening Kim.

Just looking for you to.

There we are.

Star six to unmute.

Hi Kim.

Hello.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello council members.

My name is Kim Lundgren and I'm here to speak on behalf of VSA and asking council members to please vote yes to own VSA funding.

The funding helps more than 200 Vietnamese seniors of VSA to participate in activities healthy lunches and English learning.

Thank you so much for your continuing support.

Good night.

Thank you very much for dialing in, Kim.

Manny, Manny Rocha, followed by Dominique Davis.

Good evening, Manny.

Hello, City Council.

My name is Manny Rocha, and I'm currently staying at Georgetown Tiny Housing Village.

I'm thankful for being here and grateful for for the staff here because if they were not here and this village was not here, I'm not sure where I would be or if I would be sheltered right now or at Georgetown.

I have been able to meet with the case managers that helped me search for housing, unemployment, and they helped me fill our forms from DHHS if needed, even though bathrooms ain't Ideally, we are still able to wash our clothes, cook meals, and take showers, which is much more than I could do.

If I was living in tiny homes as a stepping stone.

Thank you very much, Manny.

Dominique, you are up next, and I would encourage Manny, please feel free to send in any of your comments from you and your organization as well.

Good evening, Dominique.

Good evening.

I'm Dominique Davis from Community Passageways.

I want to thank you for supporting Seattle Community Safety Initiative gun prevention intervention work.

that we do.

Thank you for putting resources back into the amendment so that it could be voted on.

The funding that you guys provided puts us in a position to bring our organizations together and feel together and share resources together.

We were able to hire 60 plus people of color in our community, which brings economic security to a number of people that do this work.

We're able to put training into our community, put new skills, new skilled people into our community to go and serve the community and provide safety in the community.

On the front end and the back end of gun violence.

A community healing community is the answer.

I'm thinking about what does it look like for long-term investments, 150 people from the community doing this work, trained up.

We're out here saving lives, and I'm excited to save more lives.

We're out here providing services and resources, and I'm excited to provide more resources, housing, employment, everything.

So at the end of the day, we have to put more investments into this.

We have to do long-term investing into this so that we can really answer the call to gun violence in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it Dominique.

Clara Contre you're listed as not present along with Elaine excuse me Katamaru.

We will go to Maria Cazares and Michelle McDaniel.

Good evening Maria.

Good evening.

I'm Maria Cazares with the after school program at Centro de la Raza.

I am here to share support for the proposed $2 million allocation to deal for culturally responsive after-school programming for middle school and high school students.

At Centro La Raza 99 percent of the students we serve identify as Latinx youth which is the fastest growing population in the country.

Through our program we work to cultivate a space where youth can connect and learn about their culture and community.

We work to empower youth so that they can see themselves in spaces where they have historically been excluded from.

Our youth partake in activities where they receive academic support while also participating in ethnic studies programming that expands their critical consciousness of the world and the community around them.

Through this funding we hope to continue supporting the development of the leaders of the future.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And Maria Casares, excuse me, Michelle McDaniel.

I apologize for that.

Michelle, please go ahead.

Good evening.

My name is Michelle McDaniel.

I'm the CEO of Prices Connections.

I would like to thank Council Members Herbold, Mosqueda, Lewis, Juarez, Suwats and Council President Gonzalez for including $600,000 in the balancing package to support a pay equity analysis for human service workers.

The City of Seattle relies on the skills and expertise of nonprofit workers to build well-being in communities so that individuals can reach their potential at every stage of life.

Human service workers are often paid at such a low level that they qualify for public support programs themselves.

Their pay does not reflect the education required difficulty or value of their work.

As a result organizations like Crisis Connections are struggling to recruit talent at the very moment when our behavioral health and basic needs referral services are needed more than ever.

A pay equity analysis will determine equitable wages that alleviate poverty and allow human services workers to thrive and live in communities they serve.

With this information, we can advocate for stable and adequate funding.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

The next two speakers are Sharin Savuhani and Stacey Johnson.

Good evening.

Shireen.

Star 6 unmute please.

Star 6 unmute.

It looks like you're still muted on my end.

Shireen.

There we go.

My name.

Good evening Budget Chair Mosqueda and Council Members.

My name is Shireen Subani and I'm the Program Manager for University Heights Center.

I'm also a mother and I understand how critical early learning programs were to my children's development.

Thank you to Council President Gonzalez and Council Member Peterson for sponsoring programs that support early learning facilities.

Thank you also to Council Members Ms. Skater, Strauss, Juarez, and Morales for co-sponsoring and advocating for early learning programs.

Nearly half of unemployed parents state that child care is a barrier.

This is especially a pro pro problem for women and within BIPOC communities.

There is a dual benefit when we invest in early learning facilities both as a way to create jobs through capital projects while also ensuring that every child has an opportunity to succeed.

Here at U Heights we are doing our part to provide child and we've remained open since the start of the pandemic offering three different child care programs.

We also support expansion of vehicle residency Thank you so much for your leadership during this difficult time.

Thank you very much.

And the next person Stacy followed by Albert Shiver.

Hello.

My name is Stacy Johnson.

I'm a resident of Georgetown Tiny House Village in District 2. I'm calling to ask for your support in funding more tiny house villages Being so many people on the streets is cold.

They're cold and wet and awful.

I think we could do a better job giving people a safe place to stay with a heater, locking door, case managers on site.

We need increased funding so that the tiny house villages can have behavioral staff on site as well.

It's very important.

It's part of the stable shelter unit that leads to permanent housing.

I implore your budget should reflect the housing crisis that Seattle suffers from in light of the recent pandemic.

focus more on proven shelter models like tiny house villages and more low-income housing solutions for our most vulnerable population.

Thank you.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you very much, Albert.

Karen, Albert, you are up next, followed by Karen Gielin.

Good evening, Albert.

Hi.

Hi, I'm Albert Shriver.

I'm from the community of Casual Ways.

and I'm the operations manager for the organization.

Thank you for giving us this platform to use our voices and I'm advocating for the Seattle Safety Community Seattle Community Safety Initiative for continued funding through 2022. I'm here to show my support for the collective.

Through this initiative I'm witnessing life-changing work that has been critical in changing and saving lives from providing jobs for young people and others in the community to prevent retaliatory action amongst gangs and other young people in the community.

This work needs to continue because by not doing so we are telling our young people that their lives are just a discussion amongst adults.

We must show them that we care about our actions and continue on this work.

By not continuing this work this past year's efforts may have all been for nothing and to do that could be detrimental to the Black and Brown community.

History has shown us that resources for the Black and Brown community are not as important as they are for other communities or else we won't be here fighting for scraps.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for dialing in tonight.

Karen you're followed by Elisa Tan.

Karen good evening.

And then after Elisa will be Solinulay.

Good evening Karen.

Star 6 unmute.

Hello.

Hi Karen.

My name is Karen Gillan and I live in District 7. Last year you made it clear to our police officers that you don't support them.

They left the force at an unprecedented rate, compromising public safety.

You now propose to reduce the mayor's proposed budget, expecting the high rate of attrition to continue.

Your job should be to figure out how to stop the attrition and retain officers, even if it involves additional funding.

Last year, you told us that non-sworn officers could better respond to many 9-11 calls.

Now you want to postpone the addition of six CSOs because you don't know where they might report in the future.

This is ridiculous.

We need those officers now and should be have more included in the plan.

Please listen to Seattle voters who made it clear that they want improved public safety.

You should fully fund the mayor's police budget.

I urge the council to return to in-person meetings as soon as possible.

The current comment process is prejudiced against anyone who is not young and tech savvy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next person is Eliza followed by Suniu.

Hi my name is Eliza Pan.

I live in District 2 and I'm a member of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice.

I support all solidarity budget amendments in the balancing package including shrinking SPD's bloated budget by 10.9 million at a minimum.

I also support amendments to ensure that city attorney's office budget does not grow.

There are so many issues in my neighborhood that could be addressed with real investments in the neighborhood and community instead of unnecessary policing.

For example we don't even have sidewalks.

We need money for sidewalks and transit so it's safe for us and our children to walk around, not investments into unnecessary policing.

I'm appalled that Mayor Durkan and Mayor-elect Harrell are calling to refund police by $10 million because that would actually mean $10 million cut from essential services and community needs, since everything at this point in the budget needs to be self-balancing.

There is no mandate coming out of this election.

Less than half of Seattle voters actually voted and of those 50 percent voted nearly 50 percent voted for candidates advocating for defunding SPD.

My neighbors most of whom have lived here for over 30 years have not seen investments in our neighborhood to get help with sidewalks transit education and.

Thank you.

Sorry to cut you off.

Please go ahead and send in the rest of your comments.

The next person is Solinu, followed by Karen.

Solinu, it looks like you're not present.

Karen, I thought we already heard her.

Oh, excuse me, Karen Carpenter will be followed by Jenny Hsu.

Okay, looks like Karen's not present as well.

Ms. Gloria B.

is not present.

Nick Wong, not present.

Teresa Soni, not present.

Emmanuel Lopez, not present.

The next person is Jeannie Hsu.

Good evening Jeannie.

Hi my name is Jeannie Hsu.

I'm a resident of Seattle and a retired teacher.

I would like to speak in support of budget line item HSD 25A1.

After Sandy Hook brought gun violence into my personal and professional life I began to advocate for common sense gun safety measures.

and have become aware of and deeply appreciate and respect the work done by community-based and led organizations such as Choose 180, Community Passageways, Rainier Beach Action Coalition, and Mothers for Police Accountability in the Seattle area.

They and many other local organizations have served disproportionately impacted BIPOC communities with inadequately funded evidence-based services to reduce gun violence.

Since there has been a prohibition of federal funding of research on gun violence prevention at the CDC because of the Dickey Amendment in 1996, it is even more imperative to identify and fund proven and effective strategies to increase public health and safety with regard to firearms.

Please support this critical investment of budget line item A.

Thank you very much for dialing in.

Teresa Manghini, followed by Marvin Marshall.

Hi, Theresa.

Hello, City Council.

Hi.

Hello, City Council members.

My name is Theresa Mangini, and I live at the Georgetown Tiny House Village.

I think that the villages are a needed step to getting us off the streets and into permanent housing.

Many more villages are needed for those still on the streets.

Winter is coming.

It is going to be cold.

Before I got into the Tiny House Village, I myself was staying in a tent with my dog, Wilbur.

I feel unsafe at times and exposed with the thoughts of not knowing the unknown and the possibilities of coming back to my tent and having it all being taken.

There are so many still out there on the streets today, uncovered and fighting the elements.

The struggle is real for many of us and the tiny villages are a blessing.

Many more should be created so that those that are still suffering too can find a tiny home of their own.

That's my story.

Thank you very much for calling in tonight.

Marvin Marshall, followed by Trey Argerios.

Good evening, Marvin.

Star six to unmute.

Hi, my name is Marvin Marshall and I'm the Director of Violence Prevention Programs at the YMCA Social Impact Center.

I'm calling in support of the restored funding for the Seattle Community Safety Initiative, also known as SCSI.

and I would like to thank the City Council for supporting the initiative and supporting the work in the year of 2021, and we would like to continue that support into 2022. I think it's imperative that we look to support community and look at the collaboration, the different amounts of relationships that are built with local schools, businesses, and community members, look at the elements of crisis response.

As many of my colleagues have mentioned on this call, we're responding in real time to incidents in the community, funerals, supporting sporting events, and the community at large.

I think that the number of jobs that we provided for community also adds a different element to the conversation.

And I would just like to continue that support into 2022. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And Trey, followed by Lisa Guzman.

Good evening, Trey.

We're six to unmute, please.

We will go on to Lizeth Guzman and then Arbarria Morris and go back to Karen Carpenter.

I think I want to make sure Karen Carpenter gets a chance to speak because I want, I believe I called your name, but then we didn't go to you.

So apologies for that.

Trey, star six to unmute.

Okay, listen, I see you.

I am the mother of Albert Martinez and doing that jobs for

The interpreter couldn't catch.

Trabajo juvenil for the youth, jobs for the youth.

Okay.

I am here to support the program.

En el Centro de la Raza, as a mother, I consider that this program has helped enormously so that he can in turn have safety and have confidence in himself.

in the world of jobs, in the world of workers, that is.

And I know that all this experience that he's living and accumulating will help him in the future whenever he will have finished with his schooling.

I am very elated that my child that is part of the program, that is such a good program, I support him and I motivate him and encourage him every single day so that he may continue studying and going to school.

I thank you and I will listen to the rest.

Thank you very much Raul and gracias por sus palabras.

Trey I see you unmuted.

Please go ahead.

Hi my name is Trey Aguirre.

I'm a resident of District 3 and I live about a block from the True Hope Village Tiny House Tiny House Village.

And I'm speaking in today to give my support for more tiny houses.

Our city is facing so many problems with homelessness right now.

And one of those problems is not the tiny homes.

I live next to them and they've been great neighbors just like everyone else in my district.

And we've seen that they're a fantastic opportunity to help people segue from life on the street into a more sustainable permanent housing opportunity.

So I really urge the City Council members to please put more funding into building on what is not a panacea for the homeless problem but definitely a step in the right direction.

It can help so many other people who are suffering right now to get stability in their lives so that they too can take care of themselves and get into permanent housing.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you very much for your time.

We'll go back to Karen followed by Aria Mores.

Hi Karen.

Hi my name is Karen.

I live in District 1. I'm calling in support of the entire solidarity budget.

I'm inspired by a vision to achieve public safety through meeting people's basic needs not policing them.

In addition to preserving the $10.9 million cuts to SPD's budget I ask that you eliminate the $14 million adjustment for one-time budget changes and remove the 134 positions that SPD does not intend to fill next year.

I urge you to invest in communities directly That means allocating $800,000 for tiny house villages and encampments for self-managed communities, $750,000 for child care assistance to child care providers, $1 million for mental and behavioral health care services for members of the Duwamish tribe, and $1 million for anti-displacement fund for BIPOC educators to live in the communities they serve.

Retain teachers, not cops.

I yield my time.

Thanks.

Thank you very much.

Arvia followed by Andrew Sampson.

Good evening, Arvia.

And star six, there we go.

Hello.

Hi, this is Arvia Morris in the 43rd district and I'm a climate advocate.

Thank you for funding the integrated city transit plan.

I am hoping this will get people out of cars and bring good transit to all neighborhoods.

Overall I'm disappointed with the budget because it does not reflect a deep and driving desire to meet Seattle's 2030 climate goals.

All the issues facing folks experiencing homelessness will be exacerbated if we don't address climate change.

70 percent of all climate pollution comes from cities.

That is us.

As city council members you have the power to fund programs such as low income oil to electric heat conversion programs to a level which will have an immediate and direct impact on Seattle's greenhouse gas emissions.

Please consider the young people in your life and ask does this budget do everything in your power to bring Seattle's greenhouse gas emissions down to meet our 2030 goals.

Each year we.

Thank you.

Please send in the rest of your comments.

Andrew followed by Matthew Mitnick.

And then Sandra Singleton.

Good evening, Andrew.

Andrew Star 6 to unmute.

There we go.

Hi, my name is Andrew Samson.

I'm the CEO of a startup based here in Seattle and one of the few Black tech CEOs in the entire United States.

I've been homeless and I understand far too well the pain that is on display in this city.

The homeless services budget precludes thousands of unsheltered people across the city by focusing exclusively on sanctioned camps and inefficient tiny house initiatives.

I am asking for the allocation of $2.5 million to provide sanitation and health services to the growing number of unsanctioned camps around the city.

500,000 of that would go towards the initial cleanup of these unsanctioned camps, such as the one with Green Lake.

with the remaining $2,000 being allocated so that we can provide these unsanctioned camps with regularly scheduled waste disposal, such as trash, recycling, and compost.

Additionally, safe needle disposal and exchange programs must be set up at these unsanctioned camps to provide harm reduction.

Those who are suffering in the city are characterized as hazardous debris that needs to be swept away by police, all in an effort to protect those in the city that live comfortably from ever being uncomfortable.

Wonderful, thank you very much.

Matthew, please go ahead.

Hello, my name is Matthew Minick, and I'm a graduate student at the University of Washington and District 4 resident.

Tonight, I'm urging you to support the Seattle Indian Health Board's request for $500,000 for the produce prescription pilot, $200,000 for the Thunderbird Treatment Center Community Participatory Design Survey, and $100,000 for the expansion of the Lake City Clinic.

I'm also in support of Chief Seattle Club's $8.1 million request for clean and sober housing in Soto and funding for the Longhouse at North Seattle College.

And honestly many of the community-focused ideas that you've already heard speakers address tonight are really they're directly ingrained into these requests and a culturally competent approach to food insecurity primary care services health care needs and wraparound services is so vital and that is exactly what's going to happen with these items.

So I really ask each of you to consider what is receiving funding in this city and what isn't and to whom it is going toward.

And we need to invest in our vulnerable communities, specifically when it comes to housing and safety, rather than corporate developers and militarized police.

Wonderful, thank you.

And I'm going to just note for the record, we are at callers 130, if you are 130 or above please dial in if you are not here.

We were gonna name your name and come back to you at the end of the hour.

So we'll come back at 9 o'clock if you are not present.

Sandra Singleton, not present.

Lourdes Nolasso, not present.

Brian Davis, not present.

Trevona Thompson-Wiley, who I thought we heard from earlier, not present.

Ala Hassan, not present.

Let's go to LaTanya V.H. Dubois.

Good evening LaTanya.

LaTanya you may be you still need to hit star-6 please.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Hello my name is LaTanya V.H. Dubois and I live in District 7. I'm testifying in support of more tangible affordable housing and the tiny house villages, which get our homeless neighbors connected to services and roofs over their heads and off streets.

Many of our houseless people are our most vulnerable BIPOC citizens, elders, families, youth, young adults, and disabled folks.

Please support all the amendments that have been introduced to grow and enhance the program.

The tiny house villages give folks an opportunity they would not otherwise have to provide case management and other services to move folks towards permanent housing.

My organization, the Silent Task Force, are the referral and support team for village number 13, the newest village that's in Skyway.

It's a family tiny house village in unincorporated Skyway.

And we need to see real investments towards economic development in underserved communities, affordable housing, child care, mental health, substance use, Domestic violence services food access.

Thank you very much.

Please send in the rest of your comments LaTanya.

Cherish Hart followed by Ken England.

Good evening Cherish.

Good evening.

My name is Cherish Hart and my work at the American Heart Association has supported the health of Seattle residents for over a decade now.

And today I'm asking the council to please include the Seattle Indian Health Board request of five hundred thousand dollars to launch a culturally appropriate produce prescription pilot.

Every day when I'm doing my work I see the health impacts of chronic diseases and those are really rooted in structural racism and social barriers to health.

And that's especially evident you know that our systems in those who our systems have historically under-resourced.

So this produce prescription will build on our current programs by holistically addressing chronic disease through nutrition security and doing that through an approach that accounts for cultural needs.

I also support the two other requests of the Seattle Indian Health Board to increase health care access for American Indian and Alaskan Native communities.

These three projects are really important for prevention and reducing disparities in health.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And Kim England, please go ahead.

Good evening.

My name is Kim England.

I am a resident of Council District 6 and a professor at the University of Washington.

I am also a very proud member of the Seattle Domestic Workers Coalition.

And I am proud to live in the first city in the United States to introduce a domestic worker's ordinance.

I am strongly in favor of the proposed operating budget item that would allocate funds to the Office of Labor Standards to address the four recommendations from the Domestic Workers Standards Board that were presented to council a few months ago.

One of those recommendations is to create a portable paid time off policy.

The Domestic Workers Coalition is ready to work with the Office of Labor Standards to make the right to portable paid time off for domestic workers a reality.

The proposed budget will allow for improved working conditions of domestic workers.

Please keep this budget line intact.

Thank you.

Thank you very much Kim.

I'm going to go back to Sondra Singleton and then Elizabeth Sonten and Justin.

I'm sorry I can't pronounce that.

Sondra please go ahead and star 6 to unmute.

Hello, my name is Sandra Singleton.

I'm a renter in Courtland Place, apartment, that's apartment, in Rainier Court.

And I'm calling because me and my fellow tenants have been engaged in a struggle for our rights.

against our landlord, C.

Despite, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, including through backdoor methods.

I'll give you just a little bit more time for folks who are watching the time.

Please give a little bit more time to Sandra.

Please go ahead, Sandra.

Sorry about that.

Increase our light bill on Section 8 tenants.

The council needs to support us at a very near court by sending, standing with us against the odds of seed signing the letter from a chamber council member.

What's that?

Suwan?

Suwan?

office and supporting demands in the budget.

This year for affordable housing as part of the...

Thank you very much.

We're going to move to Elizabeth.

Thank you for giving us a little extra time, Elizabeth.

Please go ahead and star six to unmute.

Star six, Elizabeth.

And after Elizabeth will be Justin.

Okay, Elizabeth, we see you're still muted, so star six to unmute will keep you on the screen.

Justin will be followed by Reverend Harriet Walden.

Hi, Justin or Elizabeth, please unmute star six.

Go ahead, Justin.

Good evening, city council members.

I am Justin Gizzi.

I live at the Georgetown Taranos Village.

The villages give me a safe place to stay, learn leadership skills, and give me a more productive, to be a more productive citizen.

The Chinatown villages mean there's less people out in cold and wet, in their tents or in their cars.

There should be more tiny house villages like Georgetown.

They have case management on site.

So please fund more tiny house villages and increase the amount.

of villages.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for dialing in.

Elizabeth, we'll come to you next.

Elizabeth, star six to unmute.

It looks like you're still muted.

Star six.

Reverend Herod Walden, we will go ahead and tee you up.

I see Elizabeth still muted.

Star six, Reverend Walden.

Wonderful.

Good evening.

Good evening.

This is Reverend Walden.

Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight.

I'm living in District 3. been in Seattle 45 years before it was gentrified.

I'm also calling for the mothers, the African-American mothers and other mothers who are weeping in Seattle because their children have been killed.

And nothing has been presented tonight to actually include those voices.

We're creating a city where we'll have the affluent parts of Seattle will be able to hire private security because that's what they can hire.

And in other parts of Seattle, when they have slow police response, I have no detectives to work on any of these cases.

And I'm surprised that the city council has not even invited any of the mothers whose children have been killed up until, I mean, it's 81 in July, up until July.

And now, it's even more than that.

And also, Mother's Police Accountability really does support the increasing of the CSO officers.

We've worked on that to bring the CSO officers back.

Anyway, thank you, and please include the mothers.

They're crying, and it's over 81 of them.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Reverend Walden, for dialing in.

Elizabeth, I see you're still muted, so we're going to keep going here, and we'll come back to you at the end of the hour.

Jen Musia, followed by Julianne Scott, followed by Marty Jackson.

I want to note Barb Oliver, Alicia Whitfield, and Maren Costa are listed as not present.

So let's go ahead.

Jen, good evening.

Hi I'm Jen Musee Director of the Ballard Food Bank speaking on behalf of the Seattle Human Services Coalition.

We appreciate your work to balance the budget in this difficult situation.

The budget you crafted now includes the pay equity analysis needed to reverse the legacy of harm caused by underpaying human service workers and sustained funding for food banks and meal programs at 2021 levels.

The budget also improves the equitable delivery of services to senior youth municipal youth responses to gender-based violence and makes a one-time adjustment to contracts to keep up with rising costs to deliver services.

Specifically, from the amendment HSD-006, SHSC also urges council to strengthen the capacity of food banks.

Not all food banks receive city funding, yet they have been on the front lines.

We recommend the council invest $300,000 so that all city food banks are funded and can serve the community equitably We also recommended $2 million investment in the food bank system infrastructure.

Thank you so much for your time tonight.

Thank you so much for dialing in.

I want to go to Julianne next and then Patrick Garner.

Good evening Julianne.

Star 6 unmute.

Star 6 Julianne Scott.

Okay, let's see, Patrick.

Oh, hello, Julian.

Hi, my name is Julian Scott.

Please provide bridge funding for the New Home Community Development Institute in Lehigh to buy a local building to enable dozens of affordable homes in the Central District.

And please add $200,000 to fund Clean Greens, a Central District-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing local grown affordable produce to the Seattle community.

Clean Greens directly distributes fresh organic local produce free of charge in Seattle central area which especially increases access to fresh produce for road working and low income families.

The produce is farmed locally with the help of community volunteers.

Clean Greens reports that they receive far more requests for produce than they currently produce.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Patrick Gardner followed by Kirk Laughlin.

Good evening.

Patrick.

Oh Patrick's not present.

Okay.

We'll move to Kirk Laughlin.

Followed by David Jones.

As we are teeing up David Jones.

Thank you so much David.

Just star 6 to unmute.

Star 6 to unmute David.

Okay as David's unmuting.

by hitting star six.

I just want to note the following folks who are listed to speak but not present.

Maureen Costa.

Patrick Garner.

Kirk Laughlin.

Anna Williamson.

Elizabeth Shelvia.

Ursula White Oliver.

And Megan Spearman.

Again calling David Jones to hit star six to unmute.

Or Elizabeth Santon you are also on the screen.

Star six to unmute.

Okay.

We will go ahead and go to Josh Castle.

Josh good evening.

Star six to unmute.

All right, folks, I'm going to give you an update on where we're at.

Hi.

Hi.

Hi, Josh.

One second.

Hi, I'm Josh Castle.

Thank you.

So sorry, Josh.

Yeah, please go ahead.

Let's start your time again.

Thank you.

OK, go ahead.

Good evening, council members.

Thank you.

I'm Josh Castle with Lehigh.

I wanted to first express my deep gratitude to all of you and your staff for your painstaking work on the budget.

I thank you, Council Member Strauss, for sponsoring the budget item to support the urban restaurants, providing crucial life-sustaining hygiene services for our unhoused neighbors.

We are requesting $90,000 to increase support downtown and expand hours at our valid location.

Specifically, at the valid location, we'd like to add two team members and one team lead to establish services Saturdays and expand them during the week.

We anticipate this investment will directly help another 300 women and men experiencing homelessness and will allow for another 5,000 showers, 500 loads of laundry, and more housing and job referral services by our amazing front desk staff.

These services remain a lifeline for people to access basic hygiene services and take the crucial steps necessary to exit homelessness such as sustaining or seeking employment and seeking housing.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for dialing in today.

Hi David.

David please go ahead.

That's OK.

Thanks for waiting.

OK.

Good evening, city council members.

I support SE, SI, YMCA.

Thanks for your funding in the past.

We're here to build family relationships, safe passage, and supporting youth for resources.

We pride ourselves on gang violence prevention and availability with Shots Fired.

Anything can be found except for waste of time.

So I just want to let you guys know, please don't waste any time.

We're continuing funding this program for the youth.

We're here for the babies.

We're out here on the streets with them.

We understand them.

They understand us, and we have a real good relationship with them, and we want to continue it with your funding.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Okay, the next three speakers are Joaquin Jackson, Ann Tyson, and Bruce Dreger.

That brings us up to number 160. Go ahead Joaquin.

Star 6 unmute please.

Wonderful.

Hi my name's Jaquan Jackson.

I'm here on behalf of the YMCA Seattle Community Safety Initiative.

I completely support the restoring of the funding.

Our organization we provide resources for at-risk youth in a variety of different ways.

It's really more than a job to us.

We genuinely put our hearts into these children, and they look up to us as big brothers and big sisters.

A lot of these youth, they don't have the proper necessities they need or the proper guidance and resources they need to grow into successful young adults, and that's what we're here for.

So we just spend all day with these kids.

They really look up to us.

We want to continue to build our relationships with them, with the families in the community, so their funding will be a big help.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

Anne Tyson.

Followed by Bruce Dreger.

Hello Anne.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name's Anne Scott Tyson.

I'm from District 4. I'm urging you to vote for Council Member Peterson's amendment to retain $190,000 for community center programming at the Northeast 41st Street Center.

A walkable vibrant community space for thousands of people of all ages and income levels.

Community centers are the beating parts of Seattle's neighborhoods.

Warm permanent homes where the public gathers to learn play and bond.

To close any community center to the public for exclusively private commercial use sets a dangerous precedent.

What part of the parks will be carved out for private use next.

Why was this budget cut made with no public input.

I speak as a volunteer Seattle Parks inspector.

I love the parks and community centers and I'm giving back.

Thousands of people stand to benefit from the center's dozens of offerings including students from the next-door elementary school where 45 percent of students are Black Indigenous or people of color and 31 percent come from low.

Please save this invaluable historic and deeply loved community space.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for calling in today.

And Bruce Dreger.

Please go ahead.

Star 6 on mute.

Okay, Bruce, it looks like you're still muted.

Star six to unmute.

And as Bruce is hitting star six.

Hi, Bruce.

Go ahead.

I'll hold my comments.

Bruce, you might be muted on your own phone.

Can you double check the mute's not on?

Sorry about that.

Am I on now?

Yes, thanks so much.

Okay.

Yeah, my name.

Sorry about that.

My name is Bruce Dreger.

And I'm calling on behalf of my organization, Green Lake Homeless Advocates, the over 400 homeless people that I work with to serve here at the lake, as well as the lived experience coalition that I am proud to be a member of.

And I just want to tell you that up until three years ago, I began working with folks here at the lake.

And up until about eight months ago, I had about two dozen homeless folks that I was getting housing for and providing services for.

And now, within the last eight months, the population has grown to over 400. And I'm here to tell you that homelessness, no matter how bad you think it is, it's worse than you think it is.

And I'm moving forward with your budget.

I hope that you will consider that no matter how much money you spend, it's not going to be enough.

So that's thank you very much.

Thank you, Bruce, for dialing in today.

I want to note for the record, we have gone up to number 164 and Karim Smith, Maria Barrientos, Maureen Lund, Diana Romero, Norma Alvarez.

You are all listed to speak, but not present.

We're going to go to Anna Williams, followed by Doug Newman, and Ronnie Scott.

Good evening, Anna.

Good evening.

My name is Anna and I'm a small business owner and a resident of D4.

I'm calling to support the solidarity budget specifically the $10.9 million cut to SPD in the balancing package.

I also want to ensure that the city attorney's office budget does not grow and that the vacant positions are eliminated.

Contrary to what Durkin and Harrell recently said I want you to know that you do have the city's support to defund SPD.

Only half of Seattle voted in this election which is horrifying.

and approximately half of ballots cast were for two anti-racist abolitionist candidates.

This means Seattle does want to divest from the capital punishment system and invest in community.

Let's be really all the city attorneys raised in council position 9 were purchased by two wealthy white ladies backed by corporate interests.

And before everyone gets their Lululemons in a bunch I am also a wealthy white lady.

So let's all just take a moment of silence to rage scream that we elected a Trump Republican to city attorney.

But the good news is that city council, you have the opportunity to make a beautiful liberatory change, adopt a solidarity budget, hold true to your promise of deep

Thank you.

Thanks to everybody for keeping their comments on the budget.

Appreciate the circling back on that.

Just a reminder to keep your comments on the 2022 budget or any related items.

Thanks for the comments today and the context there for your comments.

We have Maureen Lund, Diana Romero, and Norma Alvarez not present still, so we're going to Doug Newman and Bronnie Scott.

Please go ahead, Doug.

Star 610. Thank you.

Hi city council members.

My name is Doug Newman.

I'm a Seattle resident.

I am asking the council to please include the Seattle Indian Health Board request of five hundred thousand dollars to launch a culturally appropriate produce prescription pilot.

Thank you Council Member Morales for championing this very important program.

And Juarez Herbold and Lewis for the support.

The produce prescription pilot will address food insecurity to treat and prevent chronic diseases among BIPOC communities such as high blood pressure diabetes and heart disease.

It'll help with nutrition security which was worsened during the pandemic and also addresses health disparities.

The pilot program will be a powerful way to show and evaluate how food serves as medicine especially for communities that experience social barriers to well-being.

In addition to the produce prescription program I support the two other requests for the Seattle Indian Health Board to increase health care access for American Indian and Alaskan Native communities through the design process of the Thunderbird Treatment Center.

Could you send the rest of your comments in?

Sorry, we didn't get that last sentence wrapped in there.

Appreciate you, Daly and Doug.

Bronnie, good evening.

It's our sixth unmute, please.

Hi, my name is Brianna and I'm calling in for the People's Budget.

This past summer, City Council approved the funding for the New Hope Community Development Institute, which will bring low-income housing for families and help with homelessness.

I know that there's a lot of homelessness, like the person said, more than we know, but that's a step towards it.

We have community leaders out here willing to do the work and assist the Council.

We're not just in here calling to harass people.

We're in here actually doing the work and also

putting clean greens on the budget to be able to continue to feed the families fresh produce.

Not every time does low income families have the option to go into a grocery store and and choose healthy organic vegetables for their family.

And that is also important for our students in school to be able to eat fresh organic food so that they can be clear minded and do their work.

I ask that the council please stand in solidarity and do the budget.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

John I want to note for the record Angelica Cortez.

Todd Reed you are listed to speak next but not present.

We're going to go to Jannika Lockhart followed by Sean Lau and Melanie Driesman.

Good evening Jannika.

Good evening.

My name is Jannika Lockhart and I'm here on behalf of Children's Home Society of Washington.

We want to thank you for including in the proposed budget $250,000 in general funds to support our purchase of a piece of property in the Lake City neighborhood.

This property will serve as a social service hub for the Lake City community that will house our North Seattle Family Resource Center and other nonprofit providers.

We currently serve 3,500 individuals through our Family Resource Center and we hope that this property will allow us to serve 20 percent more individuals when fully operational.

The property will also serve as the home of Build Lake City Together a neighborhood initiative led by Children's Home Study of Washington.

focus on building a vibrant community and improving economic development in Lake City.

Again we appreciate your support of this property purchase.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for dialing in for your time.

Sean is followed by Melanie Drisman.

Hi Sean.

Hello.

My name is Sean Lowey and I'm a graduate student at the University of Washington.

And I'm asking you to support the legislative request from the Seattle Indian Health Board of $500,000 to launch a culturally attuned produce prescription pilot.

$200,000 to conduct a community participation design survey to aid in the design process for Thunderbird Treatment Centers.

And $100,000 for the Lake City Clinic expansion.

I would also ask that you support Chief Seattle Club's request amounting to $8.1 million to support their day center outreach reentry domestic violence and sexual assault programming as well as affordable housing initiatives.

We strongly urge the City Council to include funding for Chief Seattle Club's Clean and Sober Housing in Soto and funding for the Longshore at North Seattle College.

These programs have the ability to truly lift people up and I sincerely hope that you consider that fact when coming to your decision and I thank you so much for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you very much.

Melanie Driesman followed by Alexis Licats.

Hi Melanie.

Hi my name is Melanie District.

Hi my name is Melanie Driesman calling from District 4. I just wanted to thank Council Member Peterson and Gonzalez for your commitment to increasing early learning opportunities especially for low-income families.

I represent UTCS an early learning program that's been operational for 50 years but had to relocate when our building was demolished for I believe condos is what's going up.

U Heights is where we've moved to.

It's a beautiful historical building that requires several capital upgrades to be licensed by DCYF and we urge you to support the capital upgrades to save these 70 learning slots with 50 percent allocated to low income families in an area that's considered a child care desert.

Thank you so much again for supporting the quality learning early programs and the future of our children.

Thank you so much for your time and have a great evening.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

So the next four speakers are listed as not present.

Michelle Hansen excuse me Hassan.

Sana Honey, Vilma Trejos, Alex Fair.

That brings us to Alexis.

Alexis will be followed by Nicole Jones.

Good evening, Alexis.

Hi.

My name is Alexis LeCate.

I'm a Nicholsville resident in District 3. I'm calling today in support of tiny house villages.

I wanted to implore with the council that You not only keep our $800,000 that was allocated to us last year in the budget, but also that perhaps maybe come up with a better way to facilitate it, considering that it is now November and we still haven't received any of the $800,000 that we were supposed to get at the beginning of the year, considering we're the only camp in Seattle that the city doesn't pay for.

It would be very helpful.

Also, I believe some of that money is supposed to go to share, too.

I also wanted to call and say that I think the self-managed model for tiny house villages is something that you should also consider giving money towards because low barrier doesn't work for everybody.

And yeah, that's all.

Thank you.

Oh, and- Thank you.

Yeah, please.

I'm so sorry.

Please do send us that last comment that you may have had.

Recall Jones followed by Lisa D. Good evening.

Recall star 6 to unmute please.

And after Recall and Lisa will be Wayne Jenkins and Victor Cerventa.

Good evening Recall star 6 to unmute.

Star 6. Si hablas espanol.

Oh there we go.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Hello my name is Raquel Jones and I'm calling as both a resident and a frequenter of Southeast Seattle and also a member of the Boys and Girls Club Southeast Network team.

I'm calling about the reinvestment of the four million dollars for the Seattle Community Safety Initiative also known as SPSI.

This important work has been going on for the past year and it's been incredible to be able to experience over 60 hires that are indigenous in our community being deployed out into our areas and being able to assist our young people in getting connected to resources, being able to establish positive relationship with a mentor and or elder in the area, coupled with just providing positive guardianship and being able to be a mitigating step in ensuring that SPD doesn't have to be called.

And so our ask is that council would continue their investment for this important and great work.

Thank you and have a good day.

Thank you very much.

So we are going to go to George Scarola followed by Lisa D. Good evening, George.

Hi, this is George Scarola.

Good evening, Chair Mosqueda and council members.

I am speaking on behalf of Lehigh, but also all the people who rely on urban rest stops for their personal hygiene.

So I want to underscore the request to support Council Member Strauss' amendment to add $90,000 for the urban rest stop program.

That supports or expands services at downtown urban rest stops, but it really expands ours at the Ballard urban rest stop where it's sorely needed.

So thank you very much.

And thanks for your service.

Night.

Hey, George, thanks for dialing in tonight.

Lisa D.

followed by Wayne Jenkins.

Hello.

Hi there.

Hello.

Hi.

When I voted for you, Ms. Herbold, I didn't intend to vote for someone who might inadvertently cause my death.

Recently, I became another violent crime victim statistic here in Seattle.

Within three days, not only was my home broken into, ransacked, and looted, three armed career criminals came back two nights later, shooting out windows to make entry.

I called 911, and within eight minutes on a rainy night, officers were giving aid to one of the three I shot, and in fact, saved his life, too.

My eternal gratitude goes to the awesome police officers of the Southwest Precinct.

Scariest night of my life.

The prosecutors didn't do their job, but that's another story.

Crime here is off the charts these days, and you want to defend our cops when you should be increasing their funding.

We need more cops, which would allow us to repopulate many specialized units and allow more community policing, which more neighborhoods and cops want.

The next time bad guys come to my house, 911 might not answer right away, and there might not be any cops available to respond this time.

Thomas Herbold, the actions of you and the council to restrict our law enforcement might be the reason I die.

I wouldn't risk my life and the majority of tonight's callers, but our cops will.

Thank you.

As a reminder, all of the hiring plan that the mayor requested is included in this year's budget and in addition to additional public safety measures.

Just want to make sure that there's no misinformation or confusion out there that every officer is included in the current budget and every officer expected to be hired is included in the proposed budget.

Thank you very much for dialing in and for keeping your comments connected to the proposed budget in front of us.

We have Amanda Booth and Demetris Abu who are listed as not present.

We're going to move on to Wayne Jenkins and Victor Cardenta.

Good evening.

My name is Wayne Jenkins.

I work for the West Seattle, Seattle Community Safety Team.

I'm actually a lead.

I'm calling in on this conference about our funding.

I think this will be great opportunity for of us to speak about our funding between the youth that we work with in the community.

We work with a high at-risk youth in our community.

The funding will be great as far as resources in the community for the kids.

The job that we do right now, we do GED reentry, high school completion reentry.

We also have a lot of job resources that we do with youth So the funding would actually help us to be able to maintain the relationship built within the community with the youth, to be able to provide them with the resources and the navigation to keep these young men and young ladies safe in a good comfort and safety awareness zones, that they will be able to have a comfortability to do the things and take on the resources and opportunities in life that we are trying to give these youth in the community.

Thank you very much.

And Victor, followed by Zanetta Reed and Dominique Daniels.

Hello, City Council members.

My name is Victor Cabaneta.

I'm the Business Opportunity Center Supervisor with El Centro de La Paz.

I'm addressing the City of Seattle Revenue General Sources for 2022 in support of the founding of the U-Job Grading and Training Program.

This program helps students from the Latino and underserved communities through internships in business development, financial empowerment, and job readiness, which allows them developing valuable skills for their professional experience.

This program has helped students like Dayanaris, Juana, and their families to create their businesses by receiving business and financial training, one-on-one coaching, and technical assistance for access to business capital.

The funding of programs like the due job readiness training is vital for the underserved communities and their need of education and economic aid to prepare them for better job opportunities and career pathways, and overall, for a better and brighter future.

Thank you for your work and your support.

Have a good evening.

Thank you very much, Victor.

We have Zanetta Reid and Dominique Daniels.

Please go ahead, Zanetta.

Okay.

Star six to unmute.

Star six.

Thank you.

Hello.

Hi there.

Hello.

Hi.

Hi.

Thank you, council members.

My name is Zenita Reed, and I'm with the Lived Experience Coalition, and I am calling in to make sure that you continue to support and increase funding for the LEC and the work that we are doing in the community with our unhoused neighbors, also advocating as well as helping connect them to resources and advocate for those who are being discriminated against in the system once contracts turn over to the KCRHA.

I also want to speak on your continued and for more support of Bill Hackett and his organization, who does amazing work with our unhoused folks in cars and RVs.

We support homeowners in fixing their roofs and things and insulating homes, so we need to help support those in cars and RVs as they need home repairs, too, and a safe space to park their homes without being harassed and access to services.

If we own our home, whether our wheels are grounded, you should be able to get the same equitable services.

So, thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Dominique Daniels, please.

Hello my name is.

Hello my name is Dominique.

I am the case manager for the community safety specialist team.

I am calling in just to advocate for our young individuals of restoring our funding.

The funding provides us enough resources that our young people have stability for a job and educational preferences.

It always gives us more resources and more just opportunities to provide for our youth.

You know housing stability and things like that.

It does provide them.

Just further further furthering their selves just as individuals.

Our goal is to not give up on our young individuals and I do ask that you do make them priority because they are they are we do prioritize and we do put them first.

You get what I'm saying in our community.

We have built relationships to where they are meeting and completing their goals.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for calling in.

So catching folks up, we are nearing caller 200. I want to note who is listed as not present here.

Grace Christ, Shirley Johnson, James Lovell, Brian Davis, all listed as not present.

Samantha Diabru, Patience Malava, Krista Sandoval, Adrian Carroll, listed as not present.

So that brings us to Yvette Alguilera.

and Maria Lynn Arns.

Good evening Yvette.

Star 6 to unmute please.

Hi Yvette.

If you're speaking you are still maybe muted on your own phone.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Yvette Aguilera and I am here today at Dresden Council to continue funding the Youth Stop Pregnancy Training Program of El Centro de la Raza.

The program believes in the youth and invests in them to help explore career pathways and ITIN application guidance.

Luckily in the state of Washington one can create a business as an ITIN holder.

According to the United States Small Business Administration immigrants are 30 percent more likely to start a business in the United States.

Thus immigrants significantly help to create jobs.

As a daughter of immigrant parents I know firsthand that when opportunities are denied to immigrants We do not complain, we simply create our own opportunities.