Seattle City Council Select Budget Committee 7/8/2020 Public Hearing

We are looking forward to hearing from everybody who has called in, and we really appreciate your time.

In order for us to get through as many people as possible, we will continue to have one minute public testimony.

At this time, we're going to go ahead and officially move into the public hearing on the Mayor's Proposed 2020 Rebalancing Package and the 2020-2025 Capital Improvement Program.

I'd like to remind everyone that the City Council reserves the right to end or eliminate public comment periods for any point if we deem the system to be being to be unsuitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and in a manner in which we are able to conduct the necessary business.

We're going to be model moderating the public hearing in the following manner.

The public hearing is set for 150 minutes and each speaker will be given one minute to speak.

I'll call on three speakers at a time in the order in which they've registered and hearing first ideally from Seattle residents and then if time permits any of remaining speakers.

If you have not yet registered to speak but would like to you can sign up before the end of this public hearing which will end at 630 p.m.

You can go to the council's website and sign up at Seattle.gov slash council.

The public comment link is also listed on today's agenda.

Once I call on speakers names the staff will unmute your appropriate microphone and you will hear you have been unmuted.

This will be your cue that it's time to speak.

Please begin by speaking by stating your name and the item you are addressing.

As a reminder public comment should be related to the mayor's proposed 2020 Rebalancing Package and the 2020-2025 Capital Improvement Program.

Speakers will hear a chime at 10 seconds, and you will then be asked to wrap up your public comments.

If you do not wrap it up, unfortunately, the microphone will be muted a few seconds after your time allotment.

So you do have a few seconds to wrap up your thoughts.

Once you've completed your public comment, we ask you to please disconnect from the line.

And if you want to continue following the meeting and hear the remainder of public testimony, We encourage you to do so by following along at Seattle Channel or the other listening options on the agenda including the listening line and the web link.

The public hearing is now open and we will begin with the first three speakers on the list.

Welcome Jennifer Rose William Farm and Ari Ashkeani.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry Ari.

Jennifer please go ahead.

Hi my name is Jennifer Royce and I'm speaking for the 2020 SPD budget.

It currently has $57 million more than Health and Human Services.

$147 million more than Parks and Rec.

$322 million more than Library Services.

And as such I would like to sorry I lost my place here.

And so far this year violent crimes have only been 1.3 percent of the calls answered by SPD.

So I would like SPD to be defended by at least 50 percent and use participatory budgeting working with Black Indigenous community leaders.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

William welcome.

Hi William you can start over.

Hi, this is William Parham, and I'm just calling in to speak about the police budget.

I feel like funds should be reallocated to housing programs that could also go to additional beds and a center for mental health patients.

I think the city of Seattle has a very poor infrastructure for that, and I think that would help cut down.

Seattle's behind the curve.

The city of L.A., the city of New York have both significantly cut budgets to police departments that rarely feed power.

It's time to take back power from Mike Salone and some of the richest police officers in the country.

Mike Salone is the real chief of police in Seattle.

And the undermining of the mayor and the chief of police is Black people, protesters, and minorities less safe in a city that sees the mayor retaliate with heavy-handed executive decrees when her own safety is jeopardized.

Thank you so much.

Final comments?

Councilor Muschietti, you're on mute.

Could you repeat who is next on call, please?

Oh, sorry.

I was thanking folks for their public testimony.

And if you do ever get cut off in your public testimony, please do feel free to send us your written comments.

Apologies for that.

Ari, you are up next.

Hello, my name is Ari Ashkenazi.

I'm calling for cuts to FPD ranging from a minimum of 50% to a complete defunding and disbanding.

Instead of going towards the police department that attacks and terrorizes those it was sworn to protect, money could be directed towards community projects, housing for the homeless, widely available mental health care, and smaller, more specialized agencies that could respond to emergencies with appropriate personnel trained for those situations.

The work being done to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department and actions already taken in cities like Camden, New Jersey, prove that it's possible and it does work.

We just need a government brave enough to take those steps.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

The next three speakers are Daniel Kavanaugh, Walker Thomas, and Rebecca Fink.

Daniel, welcome.

Hey, my name's Dan.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative here in support of defunding SPD.

And I want to warn people in the movement that a major tactic the establishment uses is delay, delay, delay.

In Minneapolis, the city council claims they were disbanding the police, but instead they set up a year-long study on the idea.

And we can't afford to wait on the promise of future action.

Council must defund SPD by at least 50% now.

Demilitarize, fire racist cops, slash the boss's outrageous six-figure salaries, use the money to invest in the community.

We don't need our neighbors getting shot at.

We need schools, housing, health care, good union jobs.

Our movement just won the historic Amazon tax, but we need to go further, and we need full Democratic control of the police.

And just one thing for people listening, if you agree with, if you agree like I do with Malcolm X when he said you can't have capitalism without racism, you should consider joining Socialist Alternative.

Thank you, Walker.

Welcome.

City Council to be brave.

Hello, my name is Walker Thomas.

I live in the third district.

I wanted to call and ask the City Council to be brave, listen to the people, and cut the SPD budget substantially by 50% or more.

I live three blocks from the East Precinct, and there are terrorists in our neighborhood, walking the park, arresting peaceful protesters, and making my whole area feel like a military occupation.

I work at Homeless Services, and we need that money.

My partner is a public school teacher, and they need that money.

And with the coming COVID shortfall means that there's no more room for blow-to-cut budgets while our neighbors suffer.

Do the right thing, cut the SPD budget, invest in the community.

Thank you.

Rebecca, welcome.

So I am Becca Finkus.

I work for Lehigh with the Tiny House Program.

Thank you, council members, for your incredible efforts in passing a progressive revenue tax and continued commitment to identify ways to defund the Seattle Police Department.

Please allocate funding towards tiny house villages and expansion of affordable housing as called for in the central area housing plan.

It is critical that we prioritize care and our continuum of care and we can do so by investing in proven solutions that support our own house neighbors.

Thank you for your leadership and time.

Thank you.

The next three are Kate Benson, Kayla Moore, and Jessica Fazlow.

I know you can't see us all, but I wanted to let you know all of your councilmembers are here.

I appreciate all of you for being here, Councilmember Juan, Councilmember Strauss, Councilmember Peterson, Councilmember Gonzalez, Councilmember Lewis, Councilmember Herbold, Councilmember Juarez, and I don't know if I missed anybody, but all of your councilmembers are here, so thank you so much.

Please go ahead, Kate.

Hi, my name is Kate Simpson and I live in Capitol Hill.

I am calling to defund the SPD by at least 50% and use those funds to invest in community and restorative justice.

As the protests continue, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the police do not keep our communities safe.

So we must build new programs that work for everybody, especially for the black, brown and indigenous people that are often targets of police brutality.

I also call on City Council to fund affordable housing in the Central District and the Green New Deal.

Additionally, please do not defund necessary social services such as roads, parks, libraries, and housing services.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Caleb, welcome.

Thank you.

Hi, thanks.

My name is Caleb Moore.

I'm a District three here in Capitol Hill, I'm calling to support at least a 50% cut to SPD's remaining 2020 budget.

The 5% cut that Durkin, our mayor, had proposed is nowhere near enough and kind of a slap in the face, to be honest.

So yeah, I would love to see that money allocated to go to the right places to to things that, you know, don't cause terror in our communities, like human services, restorative justice, counseling, youth recreation, community building programs.

I'd like to also echo that same request for the tiny houses movement.

Yeah, I think that people think of Seattle as a pretty, like, open-minded city, and, like, we're very progressive, and now is the chance to show the world that we really are.

Thank you, Kayla.

Jessica, welcome.

Hi, my name is...

Hello, my name is Jessica Scalzo.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I live in District 3 and I am calling to demand the same thing as most people here to defund the police by at least 50%.

and invest in community-led black and brown restorative justice programs.

I also want to push for the city council to meet the demands put forth by the King County Equity Now Coalition and Decriminalize Seattle to replace the current 911 operations with a civilian-controlled system.

Number two, to scale up community-led solutions, like I mentioned before, three to fund a community-created roadmap to life without policing, so making sure that the people that are most affected by police violence are directing our movements and movements with this funding, and also invest in at least 1,000 new affordable homes in the Central District.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jessica.

The next three are Carolyn, Akinbami Alex Finch and Alicia Glenwell.

Welcome Carolyn.

Hi thanks.

My name's Dr. Carolyn Akinbami in District 3. I worked as a pediatrician with King County Public Health in the early 2000s and I volunteer now with a grassroots ACL people power volunteer group.

And I wanted to thank you council members for your leadership.

I support King County Equity Now and decriminalize Seattle's defunds demands to defund the police by 50 percent and reinvest in community solutions.

We've heard too many stories about uncalled for violent responses from police.

And I can personally attest to how damaging SPD's policing tactics can be.

I was in my yard when a young black woman politely started asking me to buy magazines.

And with zero provocation, police jumped out of their car and demanded ID from her.

And when she couldn't produce any, they grabbed her, they threw her on the roof of their car, and they cuffed her.

And they ignored me when I tried to explain that she was doing nothing wrong.

This didn't make me feel safer.

On the contrary, seeing arbitrary and unnecessarily rough treatment of an innocent person backed up with guns and holsters highlights how biased enforcement is.

Thank you for sharing that story and please do send us the remainder of that testimony and for being such a powerful ally in sharing that example.

Alex, welcome.

Am I on?

Oh.

Good afternoon, City Council.

Actually, I'm sorry.

It's just, real quickly, I'm wondering for our IT folks if we are able to display the time clock so that our presenters can also see the time clock.

I just, you know, I know that it's in the moment, but I'm trying to make sure that folks know how much time they have so we don't get folks cut off would be ideal.

Sorry about that, Alex.

I didn't mean to cut you off either.

Your time has been restarted.

Okay.

Good to go?

Okay.

All right.

Good afternoon, City Council.

In case you forgot the sound of my voice, my name is Alex Finch.

I am a resident of Nicholsville-Northlake.

As I've stated before in my previous comments, I would not be speaking today without the therapeutic healing of self-management.

Self-management restores one's faith and trust in themselves and others.

I've seen people in both Sheriff's Tent City 3 and Nicholsville Villages go from an almost feral state to someone I could trust with my safety and that of others.

In more recent times, the self-management model has come under threat again by corporate-backed nonprofits and politicians who refuse to even try to understand it.

My current home is under one such threat, with politicians constantly threatening us during the pandemic.

We have tried bargaining to no avail, so we are asking the city council to use this new revenue source to open up sites around the city for us to use.

as one of the 40 authorized tiny house villages, along with other nonprofits.

Thank you, Alice.

Alice, welcome.

I'm sorry, Alicia.

Oh, okay, no problem.

Hello, my name is Alicia Glenwell with the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence, speaking today on behalf of over 30 member organizations working to end domestic and sexual violence across Seattle and King County.

We join our community leaders calling upon our representatives to disband the Seattle Police Department and invest in Black and people of color led community solutions.

Though domestic violence and sexual victimization has long been used to justify the growth of the criminal legal system we know that punitive responses to interpersonal and community violence do not make us safer.

Policing arrests and incarceration will never end domestic and sexual violence and further harm survivors and communities.

To overcome abuse, survivors need what we all need, safe and affordable housing, living wages, access to transportation, childcare, food, parenting support, healthcare, and advocacy services that support healing and self-determination.

Please protect and expand funding for community-based human services throughout the budget process.

By voting this week for a strong progressive revenue source and committing to divestment from the criminal legal system, you have the opportunity to take significant steps to transform our city for the better.

Thank you, Alicia.

Sean Butterfield, followed by Nathaniel Thomas and Cyndia Spencer.

Sean, welcome.

Hi, my name is Sean Butterfield.

I'm a D3 resident, home care aide with SEIU 775 and a member of Socialist Alternative.

On Monday, under pressure from a massive grassroots movement, this council passed a historic tax on big business because our communities desperately need affordable housing and people mobilize around that demand.

Well, we're here to let you know of some other things we could use while you're at it.

We need 1,000 new affordable homes in the Central District for working class Black people who have been economically evicted from this historic neighborhood.

We need to vastly increase funding for eviction defense because the city must fight for renters against the impending flood of evictions we're going to face when the moratorium expires.

We will need to continue to build tiny house villages to meet the needs of our unhoused neighbors.

Clearly at this time of economic crisis, we can no longer afford the luxury of a bloated police force to beat and gas us and violate our civil rights and liberties.

So I'd like to encourage the city council to defund SPD by at least 50% and use that money for the things we actually need, reject Durkin's austerity plan and impeach her.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nathaniel, welcome.

I'm speaking to the life and death My name is Nathaniel Thomas.

I'm speaking to the life and death need to immediately defund SPD by 50 percent at least.

Just days ago, Lieutenant James Brooke, whose 2019 salary was over $318,000, made statements about how they would be stopping and ticketing cars that are covering plates or working with protesters to keep them safe.

Just last night, officers did such acts and arrested protesters, leaving a gap in the car, and a car was able to come through and attempt to kill protesters.

The night that Officer Brooks said those things, Officer Marlee Clark tried to kill those protesters twice without being arrested, and they also failed in protecting us when Diaz-Love was attempted murder and that there was the premeditated murder of Summer Taylor.

The money is going to these officers.

They're not protecting the community, and people are dying.

It has to happen now.

We cannot wait, and we need to put that money to Black communities.

Thank you very much, Nathaniel.

Cynda?

Center D1.

I serve on the CAC for Camp Second Chance and I've been part of the team building tiny houses there for over two years.

Please reject an austerity budget and instead have the courage to reduce SPD's budget as the people of Seattle have been calling upon you to do.

By reallocating that budget you can avoid costs in other areas and instead fund community programs that help people thrive and remain housed.

I call on you to institute the Central Area Housing Plan to combat systemic racism and gentrification.

Please create 1,000 units of housing in the Central District to keep for its historic residents and bring back the ones who've been forced to leave due to gentrification.

Lastly, I'm concerned about the homeless allowed to stay in hotels due to COVID.

Where are they going to go when that program stops?

Please don't send them back to congregate shelters.

They do not work.

But tiny house villages do.

Please appropriate funding for 10 tiny house villages in this year's supplemental budget.

funding from the Federal CARES Act and the State Department of Commerce shelter grant can pay for them and then 10 more villages in next year's budget.

We need to be ready for the number of people experiencing homelessness that are coming due to addictions and job loss.

Let's get.

Thank you.

The next three are Kaileah Kaileah Baldwin Isaac Hutchinson and Eric Ackerman.

Kaileah I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name.

Please correct me.

Nope you got it right.

I'm very surprised.

Good work for you.

Awesome.

Thank you.

So again my name is Kylia Baldwin.

I work at Puget Sound SAGE and am a Black born and raised Seattleite.

I'm calling today to implore y'all to defund SPD by 50 percent and to make sure to secure funding for Seattle's Equitable Development Initiative and to make sure that that funds can go towards housing support and development for our Black and Brown and Indigenous communities in our city.

Today we heard from Decriminalize Seattle Coalition and with their partnership with King County Equity Now and their beautiful presentation that clearly and succinctly outlined a four-point plan to defund police, defund Seattle police and reallocate those funds elsewhere.

I also just want to say that Mayor's little two million two hundred twenty million dollars is rude.

We appreciate your time.

Isaac welcome.

Can you hear me.

Yes.

Go ahead.

Hi.

This is Isaac Hutchison.

I live in District 7. I demand that the city defund SPD by 50 percent at least and redistribute these funds into Black communities including housing and health care.

The rest of my comment I direct to Mayor Durkin and Chief of Police Carmen Best, or anyone present with the power to bend their ear.

It is absolutely disgraceful that less than a week after Summer Taylor was murdered by a vehicle attacking peaceful protesters, the Seattle Police Department is ticketing and threatening to arrest drivers for escorting and protecting protesters from traffic.

According to the New York Times, there have been 66 car attacks nationwide since George Floyd was killed.

It is unconscionable and unconstitutional for SPD to be criminalizing people for protecting themselves from this threat.

Protests will be in the street.

They will be on roads.

Would those sworn to serve and protect rather have them safe from attack, or would they prefer people be vulnerable to getting murdered for exercising free speech?

Based on your officers' actions, it seems that they would prefer the latter.

Shame on you and shame on every officer who punishes and endangers people for daring to stand up and disagree with the militarized and racist occupying force.

Free all protesters.

Drop all charges now.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

The next person is Eric.

And eloquent speakers.

Good afternoon City Council and eloquent speakers from the public.

I've got a few questions.

I don't understand a half a million dollars in SPD outreach to the community.

Why should I care how much outreach happens when SPD comes by and beats and kills innocent people incites violence.

directly attacked Seattleites for weeks on end and actually many decades in some parts of the city and collaterally attacks people who live in communities when they roll in.

How can I trust SPD after all they've done and after all the lies and violence.

With SPD's culture of hate as demonstrated over and over again I keep seeing it.

What of the undercover operations during the CHOP days.

SPD was fully informed and covertly engaged there.

Why does SPD pretend they have no knowledge of it particularly the violence of CHOP.

And what are the eight years of federal consent decree.

It's not a few rotten apples here.

It's a case where a few good apples have been added to a barrel of rotten ones.

I thank you for the time.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

The next three are Peter Tracy Aaron Mandell and Alan Balway.

Peter welcome.

Hi, this is Peter Tracy from District 4, and I'm specifically addressing the planned budget for the Seattle Police Department.

I would just like to express my support again for defunding the SBD by at least 50% and for reinvesting the subsequent funds to services like public housing, education, healthcare, and mental health resources.

I also want to emphasize that despite the commitment of $100 million to BIPOC communities, which was previously mentioned, defunding the SBD is an important end in itself that will help save many lives and will aim at preventing violence against Seattle citizens.

As a resident of District 4, I'd like to address Councilmember Peterson and highlight the tragic death of, in 2017, of Charlena Lyles at the hands of current SBD officers not far from where I live in order to remind the Councilmember that funding armed violent enforcement of the law at the expense of addressing root causes like systemic racism, mental health issues, lack of education, lack of affordable housing, and lack of healthcare can and does have disastrous results.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Aaron.

Welcome.

Hi, my name is Aaron Mandel.

I am a lifelong resident of Seattle in the Ballard Greenwood neighborhood, and I was calling to address the defunding of the police.

I, like thousands of others in this city, fully support defunding the police by 50 percent of this budget.

I'd like to thank uh...

council members not data the walker gonzalez and morale it for leading the charge on this front uh...

and i'd like to directly speak to councilmember dan stroud i've been extremely disappointed with a lot of empty words saying things such as silences violent and that we need to listen to black community leaders he had said those things over and over but had not taken action I implore you, Councilmember Strauss, to actually take action and listen to the black community leaders like Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now that have shown us the way forward.

You continue to say empty words that do not matter unless you actually take action and listen to the black community.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Alan, welcome.

Who's Alan Ballway?

My name is Alan Baldwin from District 7. I want to second the community demands to immediately defund SPD by at least 50% as well as implore the council to not simply move the work to organizations which are police in all but name.

While replacing police with unarmed peace officers would mitigate some of the most visible forms of police state violence against BIPOC, queer, homeless, and otherwise vulnerable populations, Much more violence happens through the imprisonment of people and forceful family separation by the so-called criminal justice system, by criminalizing survival.

Defunding the police must be understood not just changing line items away from SPD, but to decriminalize blackness, indigeneity, and homelessness, stop aggressive fines which punish poverty, and use the ridiculous funds currently allocated to policing to actually improve community health and safety through community-led programs.

Finally, Mayor Durkin's attempt to pit the queer community against the black community to protect police is fucking unconscionable, and I hope the council will impeach her for the crime she's enabled the police to commit on her watch.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next three people are Matthew Collins, Beth Durancy, and Ellie Bondi.

Matthew, good evening.

Yes, I am from District 4. I am calling for the same reason as every other single person that has spoken so far today, which is to defund the police by 50%.

I want you all to remember that this is a historical moment, not just for our city, but for the entire country.

And when you look back on this vote and how you acted during this time, think about it, okay?

Because it's either you listen to the people, every single person has said the same thing, Listen to your constituents.

Don't get strong-armed by the police union, the police department, jerk-in.

You represent me.

Especially you, Patterson.

You're my representative.

This is unacceptable.

And it's time for change, and we are all sick of it.

The police are literally the biggest gang in this country.

They have I've had my own mental health crisis before and called 911 for crisis, and they came and made fun of me, joked at me, and I ended up in handcuffs tied to a bed in the hospital.

So that's not social services, if you ask me.

Take that 50% and reallocate it to people who are actually trained.

Beth, welcome.

Yes, thank you.

My name is Beth Durance-Young.

I'm from District 5. The call to defund police is profoundly unjust.

The SPD is already underfunded, and defunding the police has the most impact on minority communities and the vulnerable.

In the police-free CHOP zone, two black teens were killed in five-plus shootings.

One deaf woman was sexually assaulted, and there's probably more.

There's less impact, of course, in defunding the police on wealthy communities and city leaders because they have their own protection, their own locked and gated communities.

And defunding the police will reduce the stores, especially the grocery stores, in underserved areas.

When stores can no longer count on police protection, they will leave.

They will leave the city and leave the communities underserved.

and profoundly in a worse situation.

Thank you, Beth.

Ellie, welcome.

The homeless epidemic is not going anywhere soon.

In fact, I think it is safe to say that due to COVID, it will likely increase.

At this time, shelters are not a safe alternative.

Please stop sweeping homeless communities.

I currently reside at Nicholsville North Lake Tiny House Village.

We are still being threatened with eviction by August 1st.

As of today, the city has not offered the promised support to locate property to move before the eviction date.

We should be allowed to stay put where we feel safe.

You are already giving support to the corporate organizations.

Please do not forget the grassroots organizations such as Picklesville.

We have not received support.

We are self-managed and are asking for your financial help during these difficult times.

Again, homelessness is not going away anytime soon.

Please stop sweeping it under the rug and forgetting about us.

Thank you for allowing me the time to speak to you.

Thank you for your time today and for reminding us of that August 1st date for Nicholsville.

We'll follow up.

Next three speakers are Jasmine Joshua, Alexandra Adams, and Anitra Freeman.

Jasmine, welcome.

Hi, my name is Jasmine Joshua from District 4 and I'm here to discuss defunding the Seattle Police Department.

I demand the City Council to vote to defund SPD by 50% at least and divert those funds to community-led safety and health organizations.

following the lead of Black-led groups like King County Equity Now.

This last month alone proves that SPD does not have the ability to serve and protect our city.

In the last month, I saw Durkin sanctify gassing and violence against peaceful protesters.

I saw a police department abandon their own precinct in an attempt to bait protesters into violence and destruction.

I saw two teenagers murdered in the streets.

I saw trans women abducted in the streets of Capitol Hill.

I saw violence from Proud Boys.

And I watched the police claim that they could do nothing to stop this, although somehow Chief Best managed to walk freely into the chop for at least three press conferences, and her officers had the resources to track down citizens with cell phones who tried to hold them accountable.

Who is Lorenzo's murderer?

Who is Antonio's murderer?

The SPD have no idea, but they certainly know how to give citations to the Car Brigade, a group of civilians who decided to protect the daily Black Women's March after.

Thank you for that.

Please do send in the remainder of your comments.

Alexandra, welcome.

Good afternoon, Council, and thank you for your time.

My name is Allie Abrams, and I'm a resident of District 7 and the daughter of a retired police captain.

I'm speaking today to reject the mayor's proposed cuts to SPD in the 2020 proposed rebalanced budget and give my full support to King County Equity Now and decriminalize Seattle's proposal to defund SPD by 50% and reinvest in the community starting this year.

It's clear from today's presentations that we need far more resources to build crucial infrastructure like tiny house villages now not starting next year.

I call on this council to approve this plan and move immediately to dismantle the systems that are actively hurting our community and reinvest that crucial funding into projects that heal.

Please seize on this moment of opportunity and vote for major change.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Anitra welcome.

Thank you.

My name is Anitra Freeman.

I'm addressing the Seattle budget and going forward.

Homeless people are.

at an average age of 47. We are women and black.

We'll have another vigil next Wednesday on the steps of City Hall.

We can't go back to business as usual.

We certainly can't go to austerity.

SHARE and WEAL support cutting the SPD budget 50% and using that money for community and health services.

Our humane homeless-led Wheel and Share Wheel shelters serve community and health.

We need funding to continue 24-7 operation, not send participants back to night shelter only.

Wheel and Share are a truly democratic, truly grassroots operations and should be supported and included in new programming of tent cities and tiny houses.

Thank you.

Thank you, Anitra.

The next three are Marla Murdoch, Joey Serpasa and Kaylee Turbin.

Welcome Marla.

Hello my name is Marla Murdoch a constituent of District 4 Council Member Peterson's District and member of the Seattle People Power Police Accountability Working Group.

I support decriminalized Seattle's demand to defund the police by 50 percent and invest in community solutions.

I also support the participatory budget solution presented today at City Council.

The current policing model has to change.

Those who are white have money and power are the primary people served by our current policing model.

I personally know people of color in District 4 who do not feel safe protected or supported by SPD.

For example my friend from Africa and her daughter were walking down 35th Avenue to purchase takeout to celebrate her daughter's birthday.

A truck came by and hurled racist comments at them.

They did not feel safe to report this to the police.

Also when a friend walks around District 4 she feels she needs a white person to be at her side to feel safe or to do something as simple as take pictures of flowers in the area.

I want to speak directly to Council Member Alex Peterson and demand that all voices are heard and not just white voices who have power due to the fact of their whiteness.

The next person is Joey.

Joey Syracusa.

Hello my name is Joey Sircusa.

I'm a resident in District 6 and I'm calling to encourage the council especially my council member Dan Strauss to reduce funding of SPD by 50 percent and redirect those funds into public housing and other public services.

Seattle's budget has become bloated over the past eight years but we haven't seen much return on this investment.

Crime is increasing.

Inequality has increased.

Poverty and homelessness have all increased.

Instead our tax dollars are going towards a suppression of free speech police brutality against protesters and cruel homeless sweeps, which never permanently solved the problem.

Council Member Strauss, in our district, the encampment in the Ballard Commons was sweeped only a couple of months ago, but it's already back in full force.

Sweeping doesn't work.

Please stop allowing the city to criminalize poverty and start investing in public housing and mental health services, especially for minority communities.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kaylee.

Welcome.

My name is Kaylee Turbin.

Hi, my name is Kaylee Turbin, and I'm a resident in D3.

It is in my belief that we should defund the SPD by 50% at least, thereby holding them accountable and redirecting the funds to black communities and other resources.

Our police budget is severely bloated, showcased by the fact that police received raises throughout the month of June for gassing and attacking peaceful protesters.

These police continue to put our residents at risk, showcased by the incident involving Summer Taylor and Diaz Love, and with the continuous murder of black indigenous people of color It's on the SPD.

Reallocate the funds.

Reject any Jenny Durkin's austerity proposal.

And most importantly recall Jenny Durkin.

Thank you so much.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

The three people to speak next will be Belinda Chloe.

I'm sorry Cole.

Cole.

Perhaps that's it.

I'm very sorry.

Belinda Cole.

Adrienne Carroll and Thomas Meeks.

My apologies Belinda.

Hi, thank you.

Can you hear me okay?

I'm speaking off the cuff here.

I want to speak about the moratorium because I, like a number of other people, have not been back to work and the governor, I hope he listens to these conversations or somebody is passing a message along to him because if he doesn't extend the moratorium, then he needs to have something in place, because telling people to stay home and that it's saving lives is just not going to work if we have to try to find a job somewhere and risk death due to COVID-19 so that we can try to have a place to stay.

We are not going to be able to pay back the thousands of dollars in rent because we haven't been working due to COVID after this moratorium.

King County as a whole needs to extend the moratorium until they figure out something better that is going to help its citizens.

Our right to vote isn't taken, so I hope they're listening.

Thank you, Belinda, and we appreciate that.

We'll continue to carry that message, but also as it relates to the eviction moratorium, we'll continue working on that here at the city as well.

So thank you for flagging that.

Aiden, please go ahead.

Hi, thank you.

Aiden, I live in District 6, and I'm calling to support demands for depolicing and reallocation.

This is a tough conversation to have, and I thank you for being willing to have it.

When discussing getting rid of police, prisons, fossil fuels, uh...

you know capitalism feudalism monarchy when you're in something you have to replace even you know that the things that it does that are helpful and this is is not uh...

something we know every one hundred percent of how in the data we know a lot and at least fifty percent which is politically possible we we already have in organization and work in this and we have the same conversation Earlier this year, groups like Community Passageways, Rainier Beach Action Coalition, WEEDS, Mental Health Court already exist.

I saw Council Member Lewis give a shout out in a recent email to CAHOOTS of Eugene, Oregon.

Aiden, if you could send us the rest of your comments, that would be appreciated.

Sorry for having so much limited time with so many people on the line to speak.

We appreciate your comments and look forward to hearing the rest.

Thomas Meeks, welcome.

Hello my name is Thomas Meeks.

I'm a resident in West Seattle.

I'm calling to support the funding of ESPD by at least 50 percent.

I have a lot of confidence in King County Equity Now and Decriminalize Seattle and their suggestions.

I also want to comment on the Deputy Mayor's presentation earlier.

I've been a VP at a company about the size of ESPD and you can make budgets as simple or as complicated as you want to.

It sounds like they just want to delay the process and I really hope Council recognizes that and asks the SBDE to open their books send over an accountant explain what's so complicated about it directly to the council.

If they don't want to do that then move forward without their input.

It's time to start demanding that they act in an open transparent and good faith manner and to start holding them accountable in serious ways when they refuse to do so.

Don't accept complexity.

That's just a way to frustrate the process.

Thank you and I yield my time.

The next three people are Ryan Paul Marina Garrett and Sarah Starman.

Ryan good evening.

Hi my name is Ryan Paul.

I'm a resident of B6.

I'm here to speak about the SBD budget.

I strongly support defunding SBD by at least 50 percent and reinvesting those funds into the community and I urge the council to do so in an urgent matter considering how long it has taken the government and White people such as myself to come around to these issues.

As noted by Council Member Morales earlier today, most calls to SPD are non-emergencies and related to poverty.

Looking at D6 specifically in the suites at Ballard Commons, we would be better served by having solutions that do not involve the SPD.

Our houseless neighbors are disproportionately Black, and in this moment in history, Ballard's people and its Council Member Dan Trout need to correct the incredible harm and ineffectiveness caused by the SPD.

Please implement the solutions proposed by King County Equity Now replace our current 9-1-1 operations facility and controlled systems, scale up community-led solutions, fund community-created programs to life without policing, and invest in housing for all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Marina.

Welcome.

District 3. Hi.

My name is Marina Garrett.

I live in District 3. And I want to thank the council for having Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now present this morning on their recommendations for how to defund SPD and reinvest in community.

I fully support their proposal and I urge you to move forward with the participatory budgeting process with these trusted community organizations as soon as possible and do not overburden the community with parallel processes from the mayor's office that serve as a distraction to protect SPD rather than serving the community.

Mayor Durkin is complicit in the death of Summer Taylor, and the abuse of peaceful protesters by SPD and she must be impeached.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

I believe Sarah is not with us.

Okay folks we have gone for about 45 minutes.

I'm going to ask that we do the clock at 45 seconds to make sure we get through everyone and I'll just take folks in the order that they appeared including folks that are from outside Seattle.

Logan Welcome.

Joey Massa and Matthew Smith.

Logan, thanks for being here today.

Hi, my name is Logan Swan.

I'm a rank-and-file union iron worker in local 86 Seattle.

I'm calling in support of the demand to defund SPD by at least 50% and to fund the long-neglected emergencies of gentrification and homelessness by funding 1,000 permanently affordable homes in the Central District and expanding tiny house villages with both under the control of the community.

Year after year, we've watched these crises get worse and destroy human lives while being told by politicians that these deteriorating conditions are unavoidable.

The problem is that's a lie.

The police department budget was ballooned by 42% in just the last six years, with only one council member, Shama Sawant, using her position in the service of the people.

We've also watched this roided-out, militarized police force act with complete impunity and the violent repression of workers and youth practicing their First Amendment rights, ironically, to demand an end to police brutality.

Defund SPD.

Okay, thank you so much, Logan.

Joey, welcome.

My name is Joey Massa and I'm commenting for two reasons.

Last year in my run for city council in district six, my campaign spoke with thousands of constituents on my most vital policy proposal to reroute SPD funding and create a new branch of first responders tied to a mission of community health and service.

The majority of police response calls are issues better addressed safely and holistically through properly equipped civil servants and social workers.

When speaking to your constituents I often reference the analogy that to a hammer every problem looks like a nail.

Our police officers are trained outfitted and dispatched to hammer down on criminality.

It is beyond time that our city council add our city add more tools to its belt.

Thank you for your time and consideration and I urge you to remember that your constituents need your leadership and bravery now more than ever.

Thank you.

Matthew.

Welcome.

Hi.

My name's Matt Smith.

I'm a renter in District 2. I used to be a renter in District 3 in the Central District but my very affordable home there was demolished in December to build new luxury housing units that I will not be able to afford.

And I'm not alone.

This has happened to thousands upon thousands of working people over the last decades and it has especially affected our Black communities.

The Central District has been an epicenter of racist gentrification in our city.

And what do we call it when tens of thousands of people can't afford rent in Seattle, when we have the highest per capita homeless population in the country, our housing and services are underfunded, and yet the SPD, who repeatedly abuse our communities, gets $410 million a year.

That's a criminal system that needs to change.

So the council needs to fix this by defunding the SPD by at least 50 percent and reinvesting that money in services that our community actually needs, including houses, including this demand to build 1,000 new affordable homes in the Central District and fight back against this racist housing system.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

The next three people are Ellen Anderson, Devon O'Donnell, and Shirley Grund.

Ellen, welcome.

Hi, my name is Ellen.

I live in District 2. And during this time of COVID, we need to fully fund community services that have been proven to work, as well as invest in housing, instead of funding the police, who continue to be a racist, violent band-aid on the major issues that exist in Seattle.

Our lack of access to affordable housing, lack of access to medical and mental health care, and well-paid jobs.

We need to defund the bloated $409 million police budget at least, and the keyword there, least, by 50%, and invest in over invest over 200 million dollars a year into investing in housing and job apprenticeship programs youth programs restorative justice and community service.

During COVID and the largest civil rights movement internationally in history it is more important.

Thank you Ellen.

Please do send the rest of your comments.

Devin welcome.

Hello my name is Devin O'Donnell speaking again from District 5 directly addressing Deborah Juarez.

there's an imminent housing crisis with the disaster of the eviction moratorium it's been ongoing getting worse the city cannot afford spending another cent on terrorizing black indigenous people of color you don't need to hear more stories y'all have been hearing stories for weeks it's time for you to act what are you waiting for this is so embarrassing you are embarrassing quit talking on twitter about all what's the history books gonna look like no what's right now gonna look like how many people still have to die deborah i want to call back to december thirty first twenty eighteen as it was a little was only a few blocks from where I lived, 20 police cars swarmed and murdered.

This person who was running away, multiple accounts of people running away, he's not going to shoot back.

He's scared for his life because 20 different cop cars can't save one person from dying despite...

Shalee, welcome.

My name's Shirley Grund, and I am a voter and business owner in District 3. I also support defunding the police by at least 50%.

Actually, I think it should be abolished at this point.

But let's go with cutting the budget by half.

The cops in this state have proven themselves to be only serving themselves.

It's a disgusting embarrassment.

I'm tired of seeing my neighbors harassed.

I'm tired of seeing them

giving preferential treatment to groups like the Proud Boys.

I don't like seeing that they get paid ridiculous taxpayer sums like salaries in the $300 $400 pay.

And I would like to remind you that our demands are very very modest compared to places like Minneapolis and Colorado that are making sweeping cuts.

And —.

John, welcome.

Hi, John Bito from District 6, and I just want to say that dismantling the police department would be a much better step than reducing its budget.

But since reducing the budget by 50% is on the table, that would be the minimum that I would expect my council member, Dan Strauss, to support.

So please defund SPD and stop the sweeps, particularly addressing homeless people with police force is completely inappropriate.

Thank you for the time.

We thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Johnna, welcome.

Hello.

Hi.

I'm Joanna Vuitton.

District 7.

I'm sorry.

Can we start her time again.

I interrupted.

Go ahead Joanna.

Oh okay.

Hi I'm Joanna and I'm from District 7. I'm advocating for 50 percent cuts at least to the SPD budget.

And I'm also asking you to invest that money into Black communities into health care into housing and education.

Education is important here as well.

Police are not protecting us and they're still covering their badge numbers three weeks after Mayor Durkin said that that would be stopped.

And that is because they know they are committing unlawful actions and don't want to be held accountable.

Summer Taylor's death is on them.

And the fact that they can't protect us is showing you that there's something very wrong with the system and it's not meant to protect us.

Anyway, please impeach Durkin and provide amnesty for all protesters.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

The next speaker is Justin Kofsky.

Justin, welcome.

Hey, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Mosqueda.

My name is Justin Koski.

I am a resident of Seattle in the Broadview area, and I am echoing the sentiments of King County Equity Now, Decriminalize Seattle, and so many other people to defund the police by at least 50 percent, not just because it is morally the right thing to do, not just because black and brown people are getting murdered at the hands of law enforcement.

But also, we are in a budget crisis, and in order to balance the budget, we need to take money away from a bloated department that is blatantly wasting the budget.

Also, to Dan Strauss directly, my family supported you so much when you were on the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, and you really let us down.

Vote with your heart, please.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

The next three people are Malika Lamont, Aisling Cooney, and Ari Ashkastan.

Sorry, Ari, I did it again.

I'm sorry.

You already spoke.

Kelton Caldwell.

Let's try that again, guys.

I'm sorry.

It's been a long day for everybody.

The next three speakers are Malika, Aisling, and Kelton.

Malika, welcome.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Malika Lamont.

and I'm the Director of Voices of Community Activists and Leaders, Washington.

We're based in Seattle, and we are also co-housed in the organization that has LEAD.

LEAD is a community-based, trauma-responsive, harm-reduction-framed care for people who commit crimes due to behavioral health conditions or extreme poverty.

What we're asking as Vocal Washington is that it no longer makes sense to require the police to be the only referral mechanism for LEAD to provide that care.

please list the police gatekeeping for LEAD so that people can get the care that they need and community members can refer people directly.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Aisling, welcome.

Hi, Aisling.

Go ahead and start again.

Okay.

My name is Ashley and Cooney.

I live in D7.

I was attacked by cops in riot gear and was taken to the ER by street medics.

I fully support defunding SPD by 50 percent and eventual abolition.

Adopt King County equity now and decriminalize the adult plan.

Start now.

A big thank you to Juan Morales Gonzalez from the state of for bravely committing to demand.

I ask my council member Andrew Lewis to stand for us and commit to defending SPD.

Defunding SPD by 50 percent.

It is shameful that you have not yet.

Dan Strauss, don't tweet us your fake support.

Commit.

Watching some of you act silly when we're risking our lives.

Cops are attempting to run us over in their cars.

Summer Taylor, when you're murdered, it's so hard.

SPD needs to stop ticketing and arresting protesters.

They don't care if we die.

They even post memes about it.

Free all protesters.

Impeach Merrick Durkin.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Kelsen, welcome.

Hi.

Hi my name is Kelsen.

I am a King County Metro bus driver and a resident in District 2. After years of austerity buses as our libraries are public places where people who are houseless often seek shelter.

Over and over again the lack of public housing options lends itself to increased crises on my bus and I'm positioned to either not seek help or call a coordinator which results in the cops being called.

As a bus driver I refuse to put any of my passengers in danger by calling the cops so I'm left to navigate challenging situations on my own.

For this reason I want housing for all and I want King County Metro operators to have other options besides calling SPD and King County Sheriffs when people are in crisis on my bus.

I think there's a way for my employer King County by defunding SPD and reinvesting in the four-point plan proposed by Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now.

Thank you and thank you for your service as a bus driver in our city especially right now.

The next three people are Ellie Cassidy Rosie Daniels and Asata Golosh.

Ellie welcome.

Hello I'm Ellie Cassidy business owner and resident of District 3. I'm calling to echo the support for King County Equity Now and to decriminalize Seattle and defunding the SPD by at least 50 percent.

We all know that without economic justice there is no there is no equitable justice.

Environmental concerns and economic concerns or further harm communities.

And now is the time to act.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Rosie welcome.

Hi my name's Rosie Daniels.

I'm a district 3 renter and I'm a member of Socialist Alternative.

I'm calling in solidarity with the demands of the demands of King County Equity Now.

to defund SPD by at least 50% and fund our community programs, particularly for youth of color.

I'm also calling to support our demands of the people's budget movement.

No more cuts to our programs to fund the Green New Deal and support eviction defense and no more sweeps.

There's one SPD program you can slice off right now.

I've been involved in the tax Amazon movement, and through our power, we were able to secure a big win from the city council this week.

We won an Amazon tax.

This win has put the spotlight on the fact that us regular old folk are often encouraged to forget When we get organized together, we can win.

While we have faced absolutely brutal cuts to basic services, we have to get organized to defund STD this season by at least 50%.

Thank you.

Assata, welcome.

Hi my name is Asada Golash and I'd like to state the demands of the Black Women's March.

Number one defund Seattle Police by 50 percent.

Invest that money into Black and Brown communities community-led crisis response teams restorative justice housing and health care.

Free and drop all charges against all protesters.

Four no new year's jail.

And number five Jenny Durkin must resign.

The safest communities do not have the most police they have more most resources.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Howard, welcome.

Oh, I didn't, I did not hear my name.

This is Howard Gale from Queen Anne.

Great, thanks for being here.

We'll restart your time.

This is Howard Gale from District 7. Fundamental to reevaluating the police is reevaluating the funding.

are police accountability agencies, the CPC, OPA, and the OIG.

These accountability agencies have completely failed to provide accountability, as we've seen recently, and they've even failed to ask critical questions, for example, about the most recent SPD murders of Ryan Smith and the still unnamed African American killed by the SPD just a few weeks ago in May.

None of the police accountability agencies have held public forums.

My point here is cutting one half of SPD funding, which we should do, and having half the abuse is not the solution.

We must create a true police accountability system like Nashville or Newark.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

Thanks.

We'll look at those cities as well.

The next three are Patricia Dawson, Nancy Saltman, and Liam Dale.

Patricia, good evening.

Hi, my name is Patricia Dawson.

I'm speaking as a private citizen.

I work for Human Services at Aging Disabilities.

A long time ago, we asked the city council to support an open and transparent hiring process at HSD, which never happened.

We've taken this to a larger arena now.

I support the funding of the police by 50 percent.

and investing in the Black community with property and resources and to help them in fighting back with gentrification of their community and with restorative justice.

Thank you.

I yield.

Thank you.

Nancy welcome.

Can you hear me.

Yes thanks go ahead.

Can you hear me.

Okay thank you.

I am Nancy Staltman.

a resident of District 6. For 11 years, I lived in Seattle.

And not once has SPD ever responded to a 911 call, including the three times I called while being attacked with my son and was told that I was not priority enough.

I have been gaslit.

I have been lied to by SPD.

I have never been helped.

And so there is my speaking from my personal experience.

I have only lived, worked,

If we could add 10 more seconds back to her time.

Yes, please.

Thank you.

Three things I want you guys to look at.

Seattle Police salaries, Seattle City Light, Seattle Utilities, those three get the bulk of the salary in our budget.

Why?

Why is the lowest hourly rate going to the Civil Services Commission, the Community Police Commission?

Our teachers take three times longer to reach six-digit figures, and the Seattle Police has a guaranteed six-digit figure salary by five years.

That needs to be reviewed.

Thank you very much.

The next person is Liam Dale.

Hi my name's Liam Dale and I'm a renter in District 6. I'm calling on my council member Dan Strauss to publicly support decriminalized Seattle and King County Equity Now's proposal to defund SPD by at least 50 percent.

I urge you to support the proposal because my neighbors in District 6 and I know that police don't keep us safe.

As residents off 85th and Aurora we see the impacts of racist policing practices that target our lives of our houseless neighbors every day.

Our block learned that creating safety ourselves outside of the police was possible when recently a houseless neighbor named, who I'm going to refer to as Andy, was suspected of stealing a package off my neighbor's porch.

Instead of calling police, we urged the neighbor to just chat with Andy and confirm that he hadn't stole the package.

Basically, we don't need police.

We need each other.

Thank you very much.

Star Wiley followed by Gabrielle Guther and Jamie Flesher.

Star, welcome.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Star.

I live in District 7. I'm a part of the People's Budget Movement.

I'd like to thank Council Member Shama Sawant for her attendance at rallies and all the work she's done to help end police brutality against Black people and people of color and equity for Black and brown people.

I'm calling today to urge the council to meet demands that city council defund the SPD by 50% and please reallocate those funds to community-led health and safety systems.

I believe that defending black lives in Seattle looks like defunding SPD by 50% and reinvesting in communities by looking to decriminalize Seattle and King County equity now.

Police reforms have not worked.

We cannot wait for more black and brown people to be murdered before we make change happen.

I'm calling in support of the people's budget movement.

Thank you and please do send the rest of your comments in.

I appreciate your time tonight.

Gabrielle.

Welcome.

Hi my name is Gabrielle Gauthier and I live in the Green Lake neighborhood in District 6 and I'm a member of Sunrise Seattle.

Additionally I'm a graduate student at UW studying clinical psychology with a focus on trauma-related disorders and their treatment.

I'm calling to put my voice behind the demands of decriminalized Seattle that is to defund SPD by at least 50 percent.

Invest that money into Black communities and drop all charges against protesters.

It's laughable to suggest that armed agents of the state showing up to address a mental health crisis could potentially de-escalate a situation.

FCD is actually harming the physical and mental health of our community members.

And enough is enough.

To my representative, Council Member Dan Strauss, your constituents are asking you to defund the police by 50 percent.

So it's time for you to answer us.

Which side are you on?

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Jamie welcome.

Thank you.

My.

Thank you.

My name is Jamie Flesher.

I'm a resident of West Seattle constituent of District 1 and a teacher in the Highline School District.

In my school district we regularly wrestle with the trauma caused by Seattle's underfunding of communities of color like the gentrification that has been allowed to happen in the Central District and in the South End.

Today I'm calling in support of decriminalize Seattle and Skeen County Equity Now's roadmap to defund Seattle Police Department by at least 50 percent and to reinvest those funds back into our community.

Members of the council in the coming days and weeks you have an opportunity to not just say that Black Lives Matter in Seattle but to affirm it through your actions.

As we all know the COVID-19 pandemic has created a significant budget shortfall for the 2020 fiscal year.

Today I call on the council especially my representative Lisa Herbold to invest 50 percent at least from SPD's budget and reinvest in black communities.

Okay, wonderful.

Thank you.

The next three people are Tane Kamais, Tara Reagan, and Brent Barlett.

Before we begin with Tane, I will just note for the viewing public We are about halfway through the presenters for today.

So if you've been waiting to call in, do give us a call so that we can get you in, because we're going to be going through the second half here.

So we want to make sure that if you've called and you have your name on this list, that you are present when we get to you.

We will, of course, go back to anybody who's not here.

But our attempt is to try to get everybody in today, if possible.

So I wanted to give you an update on where we were at.

Tane, welcome.

Thanks for holding on for a second.

Hi, I'm Tanya Kramers, born and raised Seattleite, and I'm requesting that SBT budget be cut by at least 50%.

Since SPD was formed in 1869, average officer death is one in every two and a half years, with none since 09. In contrast, 23 people were reported as killed by SPD between 2013 and 19. That averages to one death every 3.6 months.

So that means that whenever a civilian encounters an SPD officer, statistically and historically speaking, a civilian is eight times more likely to end up dead than the officer.

Protect who?

Serve who?

In 2014, only 12% of SPD officers lived within the city limits.

Given their high wages, we know that they can afford to live here.

They just choose not to.

Instead, they choose to drive into a city they are not invested in, they do not care for a pool of people, they do not want to know or live near.

There can increase the budget by 27% since taking office.

Who is it for?

I need to ask yourself, who are you for?

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Tara, welcome.

Just checking Tara, just checking to make sure you're not on mute.

Oh, sorry, I was on mute.

There you go, hi.

Hi, sorry.

My name is Dr. Tara Reagan, and I'm asking the city council to please defund the police by 50% or more.

I live on Capitol Hill, and in the former protest zone, I witnessed police violence and excessive use of force during the protest.

For over a week, the police terrorized my neighborhood using tear gas, rubber bullets, flash bangs on an almost nightly basis and without provocation.

The tear gas entered our building on several occasions with one neighbor having to take his infant to the hospital due to the infant's reaction to the tear gas.

Since police returned after the chop, they've threatened arrest of several residents in my neighborhood.

I call the city council on it to please defund the police by 50% or more.

And I thank you for listening to that public comment.

And we thank you for your time as well, especially from the ground there in Capitol Hill.

Appreciate it.

Brent Barlett followed by Emily Merle and Enrique Comfey.

Brent, welcome.

Hi, I'm a renter in District 4. I'm requesting a reduction of SPD budget by at least 50% and to reject Durkin's austerity proposals.

I want to reallocate funds to building tiny homes and other services that will help the homeless and Black and Brown communities.

We need to look at alternatives to policing.

The CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon, they've reached 20% of 911 calls to crisis responders who are not police.

I think the desperate times call for creative measures and I'm asking you to be bold and think outside the box of standard policing.

Thank you.

Thank you, Brent.

Emily, welcome.

Hi, my name is Emily Merrill, and I'm a District 5 voter.

I'm calling to support the demilitarized Seattle's call to defund Seattle Police Department by 50%.

I'm going to take it from all my comments, so I'll just quick cut to parts that I think are particularly pressing.

The way that Seattle Police Department has been militarized has led to catastrophes for the public in general, and particularly for Black Seattleites.

It has led to the death of Sean Burr, and is consistently worse for Black Seattleites than everyone else.

It's also long been a plague on black and trans, sorry, it's also long been a plague on trans and disabled satellites like me.

My friends have been held under, have been arrested under suspicion of sex work, and I am terrified that any interaction I have with the police would lead to a mental health hold because of my ADHD and my repetitive movement, even though there's no threat.

Reform has failed me, tried it for nearly a decade.

We need to scale back to the 100 as far as we can, and if we want any hope of public safety, I will send you my.

Thank you, Emily, please do, appreciate it.

Enrique, welcome.

Thank you for having me in this meeting.

I would urge all council members to sign the no cash from cops pledge.

Hopefully the officers who have the most complaints will get the largest pay cuts from the defunding.

The city will have to negotiate pay cuts with the police union and the police union will fight back very hard.

Please do not have fear of a failed negotiation with the police union.

Instead stand firm and do not back down from the changes that the city needs.

The end game of a failed negotiation is that you'll have to rebuild the police force from the ground up with brand new officers.

And that's actually the very outcome that most people in the city would accept right now.

So even if the negotiation with the union fails, and even if the police don't show up to work, the public will still support your decisions, and we will still work with you to rebuild the police and reimagine policing.

Thank you very much.

Elizabeth, welcome.

Oh, is that me?

Sorry, Elizabeth.

Yes, go ahead.

Oh, my apologies.

Thank you.

So hi, my name is Elizabeth Wong.

I live in District Four and I support the demands of the People's Budget Committee and King County Equity Now movement.

Calling to say you guys need to defund the police by at least 50%, and those cuts need to come from officers' salaries and the bloated and increasingly militarized police budget.

These cuts cannot come from funds to roads, parks, libraries, or other public services that actually do help people, and that money must go into community services for Black and minority communities, particularly because Seattle has been terrorizing them for decades.

Police have never made me feel safe, and I especially didn't feel safe last night when an unknown car tried to barrel through Black Lives Matter protesters downtown, while 20 or so cops on bikes who weren't even wearing masks elected to take up the protest.

Elizabeth, thank you so much.

Please send the rest of your comments in.

Holly Blue followed by Tristan Spears and Jack Francis.

Holly, welcome.

Hi, I'm Holly Blue for Moonstrike 2020. I use she and her pronouns, and the fact that the city is performing cruel and horrible sweeps and using tear gas, including on our own city council member during a pandemic, is utterly disgraceful.

We have been dealing with a shelter crisis for years, and the loss of income to the working class due to the pandemic is making it 10 times worse.

You need public housing now more than ever especially because housing people is necessary to prevent the spread of the pandemic especially because Washington and Seattle specifically love to see themselves as a progressive beacon for the nation.

Well now's the time to live up to it.

Defund SPD.

Tax Amazon.

Tax the rich.

Stop spending money on putting tear gas and spend it on homes so we can actually protect the public.

You do know that public housing is a more effective crime deterrent than cop signs in jail right.

Like you're aware.

Don't forget the point of cops is supposed to be to reduce crime and make society better.

I'm far less concerned about revenge fantasies and opposite conceptions of society than I am about actually helping people and you should be too.

Thank you.

Thank you, Holly.

That was impressive and I know very hard to get it all in.

We do have a handful of people who have signed up and we're trying to get as many people in as possible.

But there are people who are signed up that are not present.

So at this point, IT, I would ask you can go ahead and add another 10 seconds back to the clock.

Let's do 55 seconds for folks and try to get through the rest of this clock here or the rest of our list here.

The next three people are going to be Tristan Spears, Jack Francis, and Anika Knapp.

Tristan, welcome.

Hey Tristan, are you on mute?

I'm so sorry.

Thank you so much.

You're great.

No worries.

Here we go.

All right.

In the case of a raging forest fire, sometimes we can't do nothing but let nature run its course and hope that it burns itself out.

But this fire that we're kindling here in Seattle has only just begun.

And the city has felt the people pre-COVID and dragging its feet, and more families signed up for federal and state assistance day after day.

And we realize that if we don't act now, redistribute the police budget back to the community, then you will feel the waves of the ripples you created, and it'll be too late to extinguish the fires and the flames of your failures.

Defunding the highest police department in the city with such a low violent crime rate is your civil responsibility.

Some of y'all rookies ain't noticed that Shama's been on the block for seven years, and still her movement is growing and gaining more momentum.

And every year she's voted against this budget.

It's your guys' time to now show that your side of what side you stand on for the world is watching.

Thank you very much.

I yield my time.

Thank you very much.

Jack, welcome.

My name is Jack Francis.

Hi, my name is Jack Francis and I am calling in support of defunding the SPD.

I think that the SPD should be defunded by 100% and all that money should be put towards the community at large.

I also think that Mayor Durkin and Chief Best should be removed from their positions of power purely because of the really absolutely horrible uh...

austere uh...

punishment that they're doing to people protesting uh...

but this is a great to them it's basically been uh...

our country's been built on and that was first founded you know uh...

it's really just absolutely horrible that people uh...

police officers get the high their identities get paid a hundred fifty thousand dollars a year get away with gassing people get away with pepper spraying people get away with uh...

putting people through extremely traumatic events that they then have to process and then put back into their mind.

And then they come out after that like, oh, and wake up every day.

And it's just horrible.

If you find the STD, Black Lives Matter.

Okay, thank you so much.

Anika, welcome.

Hi, thank you.

Hi my name is Anika.

I'm a lifelong resident of Seattle's District 5 and a voter.

I'm calling as a part of the People's Budget Movement and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America demanding a 50 percent budget at least of the Seattle Police Department now not in a year like the Minneapolis City Council just tried to pull now or it does not count.

We've shown you with TaxAmazon that we will secure our successes and you City Council might stand office if you come with us.

If you don't do this now, the murders that continue as you choose to linger will be on your hands.

We're watching when you vote for or against community.

Thank you to Council Member Savant for being the movement in the meeting room.

All Council Members and especially Council Members Strauss and Peterson, we're watching your votes if they are towards austerity and against community.

Thank you.

Monica, thank you for your time.

The next presenter is Ruby.

Sorry.

Ruby Holland, followed by Valerie Sholdratt and Jenny Price.

Ruby, welcome.

My name is Ruby Holland.

I'm in District 3. I ask that the Council fund the Anti-Displacement Tax Fund Program, an initiative which will pay any property tax increases for qualified homeowners and their qualified heirs in Districts 2 and 3. I also ask that you assist homeowners in those two districts to create ADUs to offer affordable housing for seniors, artists, and working families.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Jenny, welcome.

Jenny Price, and I live Hi my name is Jenny Price and I live in the U District in District 4. I'm also a member of Sunrise Movement Seattle.

I'm calling to voice my support for the demands presented by Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now.

Their first demand is to defund the Seattle Police Department by at least 50 percent.

I want to specifically call on my council member Alex Peterson to back up your words of support for the movement for Black Lives by voting to defund the police by at least 50 percent.

You joined the March of Silence and you also visited the CHOP noting I quote the peaceful crowd and the passionate demand for reimagining public safety.

But those are empty words and merely performative actions if you don't back them up with your vote.

You're either actively working to dismantle racism or you're part of the problem.

And I urge you to use your vote to show us which side you are on.

Thank you.

Thank you very much Jenny.

I'm going back to Valerie.

Valerie, welcome.

Hi, I'm.

Hi, I'm Valerie Schloret and a Beacon Hill resident.

I've followed policing and police reform in Seattle since 2010. Defunding the police by 50 percent is important.

In addition, Seattle residents are not getting value for money for a police accountability through the reform process, most specifically the Office of Police Accountability.

The OPA's role should be to hold police accountable, helping weed out bad actors and bad practices.

But OPA investigators are mostly police officers.

The OPA has neglected to investigate numerous questionable police shootings.

It's unclear what the OPA has achieved in the past 10 years.

As City Council looks at investing in community rather than militarized police, I urge you to look at better models for accountability.

We need to fund transparent and effective accountability, not window dressing.

Thank you very much.

Going back to Gautam Chop and then to Rena James.

Gautam, welcome.

Hi, how are you?

I'm Gautam, and I also had Camino, who's trumpet man from the Chop, with me, but he had to go real quickly.

So over the last few days, the Seattle Police Department has been spending about $300,000 a day to kind of create an authoritarian zone around shop.

And recently, and I think if we basically can save one or two days out of that, we could fund a lot more community services.

Some of these people have only three people on staff for outreach.

Every day we save, we get 10 people for a year on community outreach.

So I urge the council to try and get half the police off the streets over the next week.

And that would mean a lot.

The King County Metro has been helping.

Maybe they can replace the police.

That's point number one.

And then second is community oversight actually means that the community should get decision-making powers over hiring and firing of police officers.

That's very important.

Thank you, Kutom, and please do send in the rest of your public testimony via writing.

I appreciate it.

And then we were going back to Trina James.

Trina James, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hello, this is Trina James.

I'm with Voices of Community Activists and Leaders, otherwise known as Vocal Washington.

So, and I want to say first off that I totally agree that many problems could be better handled without the police and with skilled social workers.

However, to the idea that members of the public participating in the budgeting process and directly voting on how basic services will be provided, it sounds great, but it could actually result in some poor responses to the marginalized people.

Many members of the public are well-intentioned but are not experts.

And in what people need to recover and heal from trauma, putting basic systems up for a vote of whoever shows up for the process rolls the dice of the people's lives.

What about the people who don't rise to the top of the popularity contest and aren't fun or easy to respond to, but do have intensive needs and create a lot of problems for others?

We expect elected officials to make the hard choices that sometimes are not popular.

Thank you very much, Trina.

The next three speakers that we have include, just scroll in here, Juliana Trace, Henry Dietz, and Candace Luth.

Juliana, welcome.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, thank you.

Okay, great.

My name is Juliana Trace.

I'm an employee, but I'd like to make clear that I'm not here in the capacity of an employee.

Juliana, we just lost reception.

Can you try again?

Can you hear me now?

Yes, we'll get we'll restart.

Go ahead.

Okay, I'm so sorry.

Yeah, my name is Juliana Tescu.

I am a city employee, but I would like to make clear that I'm not here in the capacity of employee.

I'm here on my own time off the clock.

I'm here as a concerned member of my community invested in economic justice and as a black woman.

I would like to encourage city council to divert and invest in programs that will result in economic justice.

We cannot have racial justice without economic justice.

Black people have been blocked from economic opportunities in the city of Seattle.

We discuss being liberal, but we carry out practices that block black people from economic opportunities, as seen in when it comes to marijuana and marijuana licenses, and there being 48 recreational marijuana licenses, zero being owned by black people.

With that being said, I would like to encourage City Council to invest in Black-led community organizations as well as the city's Priority Hire program.

Priority Hire increases access to construction careers for Black people.

It hires based on zip codes and it creates direct pathway to economic justice.

Juliana, thank you.

Sorry that you got cut off.

We love Priority Hire.

Please do send in the rest of your comments.

into our offices.

We appreciate your time.

Henry, welcome.

My name is Henry Dietz.

I'm a renter in District 3, and I stand with decriminalized Seattle and King County equity now and ask the council to cut the SBD budget by at least 50% permanently and cut it by $85 million for this year.

Seattle spent too much money on their salaries and on trainings and body cameras, and we all can see that that has done nothing to prevent the SBD officers from brutalizing and killing unarmed Seattle residents.

and there has been zero accountability for this.

With personnel being the largest part of their budget, we must cut the SPD personnel budget.

No more overtime, no further hiring, no raises, and we need large personnel cuts and decreases in salaries.

This needs to be done to save the budget and fund more important things such as affordable housing, solving homelessness without police or sweeps, and investing in the Black and Indigenous communities.

Funds should be taken from SPD and used to make Black and Indigenous community centers that are safe from affordable housing.

give the Black Community Fire Station six keys and title and begin placing funds to Africatown Community Land Trust and King County Equity now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Candace Luth, Barbara Finney, and Natalia Mesa.

Candace, welcome.

Hi there.

My name is Candace Luth and I'm calling again from District 5. I just wanted to reiterate my support to immediately defund SPD by at least 50 percent.

After listening to budget talks this afternoon, it sounds like there's a lack of available general funds to assist with issues such as housing for our neighbors experiencing homelessness and other public services that are desperately needed, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As many know, the pandemic is disproportionately affecting our Black and BIPOC communities.

Defunding SPD could be a source of resources to help with many of these essential community services.

I would urge consideration for building more tiny homes, especially support our working Black working class Black community as well as funding additional tiny house villages.

I urge you to also fund renter rights and eviction defense which are in dire of dire as this pandemic continues and to follow the lead of King County Equity Now and Decrim Seattle.

Thank you very much and have a lovely evening.

Perfect timing.

Thank you.

You too.

Barbara welcome.

I. Hello Council.

I I'm calling to urge you to support the people's budget to defend to defund Seattle Police by at least 50 percent and use those funds to support community groups especially for youth of color.

To build a thousand homes in the Central District for working class African-American people.

To fund the Green New Deal.

To stop austerity.

We don't need budget cuts to parks libraries or other public services.

fund renters' rights and eviction defense, stop the sweeps of homeless encampments, and fund tiny house villages, give amnesty to all the protesters, and also support the King County Equity Now Coalition decriminalize Seattle proposals.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Berta.

Natalia, welcome.

My name is Natalia Mason.

Hi my name is Natalia Mesa and I'm a resident of D6.

I'm calling to support the demands to defund SPD by at least 50 percent on the way to totally defunding the police.

Follow the lead of Equity Now and Youth in Seattle and defund the police.

This money needs to go to community based human services public housing education and health care particularly in Black and Indigenous communities.

Seattle City Council needs to invest in Black communities and Black community organizations.

I want to stress that the police is a violent oppressive force that has violated the civil liberties of Black and Brown people in Seattle for decades and that's how it needs to be rectified.

We need to do the right thing and defund SPD.

I also want to address the comments that disadvantaged communities are more impacted by the lack of policing.

Disadvantaged communities are more impacted by a lack of all social services including public safety services.

Studies show that expanding social services reduces crime in communities and but keeps

Please, please do send in the rest of your comments.

Appreciate where you were going with that with what the data shows.

We've been elevating that comment as well.

So thank you for highlighting that and sending that in.

Just a quick pause to remind the viewing public that we do have about 30 people left to testify and some of them are not present yet.

So if you had been waiting towards the end of your I'm sorry, towards the end of public comment to log back in.

We have your name on the list here, and we will call you as soon as you've called in.

So please dial in right now if you've been waiting to get towards the end of the list.

We had made some adjustments to the time to try to make sure that everybody got in based on the number of people who'd called in.

So if you haven't yet called back in, please do so.

Ty Reed, followed by Jesse Bergeson and Philip Crotter.

Ty, welcome.

Hello, can you all hear me?

Yes, thank you.

Sorry about that.

I do wanna comment on defunding SPD, but I feel like everybody's on board with that.

So we should remember that if the council doesn't actually fall through, they haven't done anything that we're supposed to, so we should definitely hold the council accountable.

It sounds like almost everybody is for defunding it.

My emphasis as someone who works at a nonprofit is to make sure it goes directly to black communities.

Every day, we give money to huge foundations, one huge foundation in King County that I'm thinking of, and that needs to stop.

That is the problem.

It is as vile and as violent as the SPD itself is giving money to gatekeepers, so they can make six figures, so they can decide who gets money in nonprofits.

That's essentially the problem as well.

So, when we give money back to the community, let's make sure it's actually going to the community, not some big-ass foundation that mixes our tax dollars with philanthropy money.

Okay, excellent.

Thank you.

Jesse, welcome.

Hi, my name is Jesse.

I live and work in District 3. We're having community equity now and because when I said earlier to outline our demand, we fund Seattle Police Department by 50% and have developed a written plan to disband the department as a whole by the end of 2020. The department is not broken.

Police do not protect people.

They protect property and their owners.

The department is working just as designed, and so must be dismantled completely.

The department budget has been floated under Griffin's reign, and we are only more cash poor for it.

Direct the budget to Black and Indigenous people of color-led organizations.

Alternatively, literally give Black and Indigenous people that money instead of reparations.

Griffin does not have the best interests of the people in the city at heart and must be removed.

Thank you very much, Jesse.

Philip, welcome.

My name is Philip Crowder.

Hi, my name is Philip Crowder.

Thanks for having me.

I want to thank the city council for really addressing some of the details of the 911 calls earlier.

and that most of them have jumped on board with defunding the Seattle police by 50%.

I would ask that specifically Dan Strauss, my council member from District 6, would join in support of that.

We have seen over the past weeks that the SPD has been a real and imminent threat to our community.

And as well, there's real and imminent threats from the rise in poverty, the pandemic we're currently facing, and just the amount of poverty-based crime that we're going to be seeing from this.

This is our chance to get ahead of those issues and make our mark on history.

I hope that you continue the good work and thank you for my time.

We appreciate your time.

Thank you very much.

The next person is Kam Brissow and then Aubrey Marks-Johnson and Daniel Heppner.

Kam, welcome.

Hello.

Can you hear me.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Oh OK.

Hi.

I am supporting defunding SPD by 50 percent and want to echo support for King County Equity Now and decriminalize Seattle.

The police have way too much power in the city and the only way to not have history repeat itself is to take at least 50 percent of their mass budget take away their power and put that money into Black and Brown communities in terms of housing jobs basic needs and services.

Housing and food should be basic human rights.

I'm tired of seeing SPD doing homeless sweeps especially during a pandemic.

It's disgusting.

I'm tired of seeing racist policing.

We don't need police.

We need each other.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

Aubrey welcome.

Hi.

I want to amplify everything that everyone has already said so far.

I fully support defunding the Seattle Police by at least 50 percent and I want to say that those budget cuts are most likely going to go to the actual number of officers employed and are likely when firings occur are likely going to be by seniority.

If we're going to have a police force at all, we need to dramatically change the culture of the police force.

So we really need to look at cutting those large salaries and kind of clearing out the leadership that we need.

All of this violence has been enabled by Mike Solon and Carmen Best and Deputy Police Chief Nolette.

I also want to say that I live in Vista 7, and tomorrow at 3 p.m., we're going to have a silent stand-in at the Queen and Farmers Market.

Council Member Lewis has said he will be there.

So if you're in Queen Anne, please turn out for that.

Excellent.

Thank you for the PSA.

Daniel, welcome.

Hey, I'm Daniel Heppner from District 6. I am calling on Dan Strauss to publicly support defunding SPD by at least 50%.

I want to echo the last commenter in saying that we specifically need to cut the most power-hungry, violent, and problematic officers.

As we cut their budget, we need to ensure that we have a union contract that allows us to do that.

I'm asking that you keep that in mind as these cuts are made.

I also want to take a moment to mention that I hope the city council upholds its promises to the Chinatown International District and the waterfront area by continuing the Center City Connector Project.

and not eliminating it in budget cuts.

Thank you.

I see my time.

Thank you very much for that.

Again, public service announcement for folks.

We had made some adjustments to the time allocated to try to get everyone in and there's a handful of people who have not called back in.

If you've been waiting to call back in, now is the time to do so, so that we can get you back in the queue.

We are looking good on time and we will be able to get everyone in if you all call in.

The next three people are Jennifer Gossar, Chris Garnett, and going back to Susan Hebb.

Welcome, Jennifer.

Hello.

Hi, Jennifer.

Go ahead.

Hello.

My name is Jennifer Gossar, and I just moved to District 6 with Councilperson Dan Strauss.

In consideration of the need to shore up the budget it is critical to recognize the need to change the work of police in Seattle.

In order to change what is being asked of inadequately trained police officers I recommend that a review of their job description and type of calls be limited including no mental health crises and well checks just to name a few.

And those percentages can be appropriated to augment the budgets of community professionals.

Furthermore for a physician that does not require an advanced education their salaries are far far higher and other positions with jobs that are far more dangerous.

Police work is less dangerous than farm work and truck driving and should be paid in consideration of that.

Finally, it is even more critical in the meantime to have meaningful civilian oversight of police officer conduct before they shoot, attack, or kill another community member.

Please create a civilian oversight board with disciplinary abilities for officers who have repeated conduct complaints.

Finally, Mayor Durkan and Police Chief Best are unable to meet the end approach this and the coming moments with vision and insight they've got.

Thank you very much.

Chris Gannett, welcome.

Hi there.

My name is Chris Gantt calling from District 7 in the Magnolia neighborhood.

I am calling on my representative council member Andrew Lewis to stand behind defunding the SPD by at least 50%.

That is the bare minimum that we will accept.

In addition to slashing the bloated police budget We need to fire officers with a history of brutality and hold them accountable for their actions immediately.

Council Member Lewis, stop focusing on taxing capital gains and focus on working to defund the militant police force that has been drunk with power and terrorizes the community.

Invest money and resources in the black, brown, and indigenous communities who have been ignored and underserved for too long.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much for your time.

And we were going back to Susan.

Welcome, Susan.

Hello, my name is Susan health and I'm a.

a resident in District 6, and I am calling to urge the council, and particularly my representative, Dan Strauss, to defund the police by at least 50 percent.

If reforms are going to work, they have been tried since 1968 at the Kerner Commission.

I was in high school then.

It was not that long ago, and yet it was 52 years ago.

Nothing has changed.

I strongly urge you, Mr. Strauss, and everyone in the city council to put your deeds behind your words.

If you believe that black lives matter, then change the system so we don't have police officers killing black and brown people constantly.

Please show some leadership.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate you calling back in.

We have Marlo, Majik, Olivia, Akilah and Eric Sausner.

Apologies for mispronunciation.

Marlo welcome.

Thank you.

This is Marlo Nakes District 2 voter person of color disabled and poor.

I directly experience and observe austerity and policing harming the most vulnerable people most harshly regardless of whether you intend to recognize your policy's outcome.

Our most socially marginalized poor Black Brown disabled and unstably housed communities are always the first to be targeted with minimally resourced community support.

Listen to Equity Now, the People's Budget, and Black and Brown-led organizations.

Defund SBD by no less than 50% without delay.

Stop homeless and campus sleep.

Keep austerity measures absolutely off the table.

Redistribute funds to people whose vulnerabilities are now increased by the incoming recession.

Fund youth programs, mental health, eviction, renters' rights, Tiny House Villages and Green New Deal.

Also remove Mayor Durkin for unethical police force management and immoral austerity budgeting.

Relief all detained prisoners.

Protesters and drop all their charges.

Continue your pioneering work following Tax Amazon and build programs towards disbanding SPD.

Excellent.

Thank you for your testimony.

Olivia.

Welcome.

Hi my name is.

Hi my name is Olivia Aikala and I live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of District 3. The following views that I expressed here are my own.

I am calling in support of defunding the Seattle Police Department by at least 50 percent and to redirect those funds into investing into Black communities while also giving Black community leaders real control over these budgets and to do that now.

Justice too long delayed is justice denied.

I live a block away from the East Precinct and I've been horrified by the actions of the police in the last month.

To use CHOP as an example of how an area free of police would operate in reality is not a fair representation.

Reform is not enough.

I've lived in the greater Seattle area my entire life.

I'm very proud of our political leader's response in the face of COVID.

Proud.

the response our city leaders have had in the face of the most recent Black Lives Matter movement, however, has not.

Thank you for those comments.

The next two people are Eric Stellinger and Wendy Warner.

Hi.

Can you guys hear me OK?

Yes.

Thank you, Eric.

Yeah.

Hi.

So my name is Eric Salinger.

I oh, sorry.

My name is Eric Salinger.

I live in District 7. I'm calling because I pretty much agree with everything everybody here is saying.

I started really getting involved in these things after the mass shooting we had downtown.

And I listened to Carmen Best explain to us that crime is actually better downtown.

And a lot of people didn't really seem to believe that.

What that says to me is that the Seattle Police Department is being ineffective because even if crime is down, the perception of crime being down isn't really there from the residents.

I don't think that what the Seattle Police Department is doing is working.

And if you want to see a great example of that, just look up at what's happened in Capitol Hill lately, where, you know, only the police can resolve the protests by tear gassing an entire neighborhood.

Only the police can prevent these murders from happening by dispersing this crowd.

And then, of course, you have someone being killed on a highway, which has supposedly been shut down by the highway patrol.

So I just don't think that they're being effective.

The other thing I would say, which I think I may have to send you an email, is as we move forward with alternatives, we need to consider how the current lack of accountability needs to stop and we don't carry that forward into the new system.

Thank you.

We appreciate your time tonight.

Thank you.

And Wendy Werner, welcome.

Hi Wendy.

Is it possible you're on mute.

Hello this is Wendy Werner.

Can you hear me.

Yes we can hear you now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I am a constituent in District 5 and I'm speaking to Council Member Waters.

Please hear me.

Defund the police by 50 percent.

Support the demands of King County Equity Now and decriminalize Seattle.

Before May 29th I told my kids police are helpers.

I argued against police abolition.

Then my daughter.

Both of them and I were pepper sprayed while attempting to get to Andre Kaler's gathering and march.

Police instigated.

Police aggravated.

Then Police Chief Beth lied and tried to drive the narrative.

Defund the police.

I attended more protests.

I showed up in shops.

I continue to observe in person and on live streams.

Police have been bullying violent intimidating lying.

Defund the police.

The protest community leaders have been peaceful Educating the community, mobilizing, keeping people safe.

Listen to the demands of the community organizations.

Also, recall Jenny Durkan.

Thank you.

Thank you, Wendy.

I'm going to pause here for a second and give folks a second to call in.

If you have your name on the list and would like to still speak, we still have time.

We had 140 people signed up.

30 people have still not logged in and 18 of those were duplicates.

So looking at the total amount of people signed up, we did scale back on the timing with an attempt to make sure that we could get everybody in.

So I'm just going to wait for another few minutes just to make sure that if there was anybody who had signed up to testify and still wanted to call in and use their slot, you are welcome to do so.

I'm going to hold for just a second.

I want to, as I do, I want to thank the folks from the IT department who have masterfully helped to make sure that we have both a timer and that we're getting people in the queue lined up to present.

I want to thank the folks from the clerk's office who have continued to make their Wednesdays available in addition to our full days on Monday.

We really appreciate your time.

Again, central staff who's working around the clock on the policy details and amendments that we're all working on.

and providing the background for the budget details that we will be diving into each Wednesday going forward now that we have a robust understanding of the Mayor's 2020 rebalancing package.

Council colleagues, I also want to thank you.

Wednesdays are long days as well as Mondays, and we appreciate you all logging in and being part of this public hearing in addition to the two other sessions that we had today that were focused on the Seattle Police Department's budget inquest and on the 2020 rebalancing package.

So we will endeavor to continue to have public comment at each meeting.

I made that commitment early and will continue to do so at both 10 a.m.

and 2 p.m.

And I am not seeing anybody else logging in before we log off here today.

I'll go back and just double check with our IT folks that we don't have anybody else signed in, but I wanted to thank all the folks there, including our communication staff who have helped manage the ongoing public comment at each of these meetings.

So we appreciate you.

I see my council colleagues on the screen here.

I want to say thank you for your long day participation.

Is there anything for the good of the order council colleagues?

No.

Okay.

Thank you.

Council member Juarez.

Um, And then I got a note from our IT folks that all the folks who have called in have presented.

I appreciate that note.

We've reached the end of our agenda.

It is 5.50.

Thank you so much for this all-day presentation.

And we will reconvene the Select Budget Committee on Wednesday, July 15th at 10 a.m.

Again, public comment will be held at 10 a.m.

if you'd like to speak then.

Opening for that public comment starts at 8 a.m.

If there's no further questions, no additional comments, our meeting today is adjourned.

Thank you all.