Governance, Accountability and Economic Development Committee 7112024

Don't judge.

Good afternoon, everybody.

We're having some technical difficulties with the screen up there, so hopefully that will get dealt with in a moment.

Good afternoon.

It is July 11th, 2024, and the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee will come to order.

It is 2.02 p.m.

I'm Sarah Nelson, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Kettle?

He is excused.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Present.

Council Member Saka.

Here.

Council Member Rivera.

Present.

Chair Nelson.

Present.

Four present, one excused.

Well, thank you very much.

Today we'll have two appointments to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, three reappointments and two appointments to the Labor Standards Advisory Commission.

A possible vote on Council Bill 120781, updating definitions in the Seattle Municipal Code related to cannabis businesses to align with state law.

And a presentation from the auditor's office on their newly released report It's entitled, Addressing Places in Seattle Where Overdoses and Crime are Concentrated, an Evidence-Based Approach.

And we'll have a whole panel of presenters, including Claudia Gross-Shader from the Auditor's Office and Natalie Walton Anderson from the Mayor's Office, several staffers from the Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Office, that is also known as the Regional Drug Czar's Office, and staff members from Plymouth Housing as well as the YWCA will be joining the presentation.

So thank you very much for joining us today for this really important presentation on this audit.

And if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

And with that, we'll move into the public comment period on those items that I just listed that are on the agenda.

Will the clerk please let us know how many people are signed up in person and remotely?

13 in-person public commenters and two virtual, Council President.

Okay, we will go ahead and give everybody one minute to speak, and then we will proceed to our items of business.

We'll start with in-person, please.

Perfect.

As Council President mentioned, I'll call on speakers in the order they sign up to speak, starting with in-person commenters.

We'll have one minute.

When you hear the chime, you'll have 10 seconds left.

If you exceed that time, your microphone may be cut off so that we can move on to the next speaker.

If you're offering remote comment, please make sure to press star six to unmute yourself.

First, we have David L. And we'll go with one minute.

One minute, perfect.

Thank you very much for hearing me.

One minute.

Yes.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, thank you.

I just want to quickly talk about Belltown.

I've lived there since 2000, and I've only seen it going down and down and down.

I'm not sure that I'm going to read the 67 pages that are coming out because I figured that They're just more promises, and all we've heard are promises that'll get better.

This says that it's an evidentiary approach.

I'm not sure what you mean then by evidence, because we've gone on walks with as many people as we can get to walk through Belltown, and you've seen the drug dealers, and they get more and more and more and more.

You've taken away a community center and given us instead a community center for drug dealers.

We call it Moms.

I don't know what more you can do to destroy a beautiful park when it started out in probably 2013, 2014. I'm sorry that it's that way.

Thank you.

Your time has expired.

Thank you.

All right, next we have Daniel T, followed by Tom G, followed by Leslie B. Daniel?

Good afternoon, Chairwoman, committee.

Thanks for the opportunity to make these comments.

I would also like to address public safety issues, drug dealing in Belltown.

I'm the owner of Block 41 and also the Barnes building at 2321st Avenue.

I've been coming to hearings like this.

I've been doing neighborhood walks, having many, many meetings for more than five years with SPD.

with elected officials, members of the mayor's office to talk about these issues.

And as some of you here today know, we've done these walkthroughs, and we have drug dealers, the same drug dealers there every single day, and they've been there for years.

And we've heard a lot of promises that there were special operations and other kind of action that would take place, and we haven't seen any change.

And I'm sorry to report, just as the previous speaker stated, things have never been worse than they are today in Belltown.

And it's the drug dealing and all of the other things that accompany that.

We've had an event a week ago.

I called the SPD.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, is the dinger on?

We're having massive network issues right now.

So thanks for everyone's flexibility and patience.

Follow, Daniel, thank you.

We got Tom.

Would you like to finish your sentence?

I would just like to add that we have a new council that's been seated here for over six months that ran on a platform of public safety.

And I would like to hear why things have not changed, why things have not gotten better.

so i will stick around and hope to hear some answers today thanks for your time oh my gosh all right next we got tom g followed by leslie b and then julia b as well tom go ahead good afternoon i'm tom graff i chair belton united and i also lease

retail storefronts throughout the city of Seattle.

And let me tell you, we have a big problem in how maintaining businesses on our streets.

You cannot do it if they are drug dealing and, um, using drugs and stealing out of the shops and causing property damage.

It does not work.

It's all over the city.

Third Avenue, of course, is the biggest problem, but Broadway, ID, Belltown, U District, it's in Ballard.

It needs to stop.

We cannot run businesses in this climate that we have created.

And I beg you to take immediate action.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Leslie B followed by Julia B followed by Kevin D. Leslie, go ahead.

Hi, everyone.

My name's Leslie.

I live in my home on Third Avenue between Pike and Pine.

And I've lived there for six years.

I've worked in advertising for 16 years.

But in my six years living on Third Avenue, I decided I wanted to make a change.

And now I've left advertising, and I'm going back to school in the fall to get a master's in psychology so that maybe I can help do something about the people I see outside one day.

But one day isn't really working, is it?

One day I can help somebody.

One day we can all help somebody.

But what's happened to all of the people for their one day hasn't come yet.

I see people overdose every day when I go outside to go for a run in the morning.

I can't walk past the people who look dead.

I shake them.

Are they moving?

I call 911. I carry the anti-overdose drugs on me to help people, but they're still overdosing every single day.

I hope we can do something one day, hopefully today.

Thank you.

Okay, my name is Julia.

I am a resident and business owner on Third Avenue between Pike and Pine.

I am also the co-chair of the new Downtown Community Council.

I want to applaud the city and county councils on their recent initiatives to increase access to mental health and housing services for the unsheltered.

These long-term solutions are essential.

However, immediate short-term solutions are desperately needed to address the acute public health and safety issues on our block.

Toward this end, I am encouraged by the recommendations in the recent fentanyl audit report issued on Tuesday.

Those of us on 3rd and Pine have watched fentanyl transform our block from a reasonably controlled open-air drug market to an increasingly dangerous open-air drug consumption site.

We now have between 100 and 200 daily drug users on our block migrating between Pike and Pine.

I specifically want to draw the council's attention to the hyperlocal site-specific approach in the audit report.

As a practicing placemaker for over 10 years who understands the importance of this, we implore you to partner with us who live and work on the block more deeply to find livable solutions that work for everyone.

Thank you.

Following that, we have Julia.

Following that, we have Kevin, and then Jill.

Julia?

I'm sorry, apologies.

Kevin, followed by Jill, and then David Haynes.

Hi, my name is Kevin Darius.

I'm a resident of Belltown.

In your document, the term shared community values is mentioned countless times.

So in calling 911 on my way over here for a woman having her face violently punched in on Second Avenue and this audit statement that no additional law enforcement action is needed, I'd like to share with you what my shared values are not.

And my shared values are not to allow the same four drug dealers to work the same four corners for the past four straight years to prey upon the victim seeking protection at the women's shelter.

And my shared values aren't to allow someone who is so far gone they can't remember their name or covered in open sores and are having their limbs amputated to lie face down upon the sidewalk and continue in their ways and the misguided belief that their autonomy will lead them to a better path.

We can move heaven and hell and go on national television to track down a Hellcat driver with a loud exhaust.

to assist a terrorized community.

I hear your exaltations of equity and compassion, and for the life of me, I can't understand how it is equitable or compassionate to tell the sheep you're going to save them from the wolves, but that you're going to allow the wolves to hunt them down the entire time you do it.

It's not compassion, it's cowardice, and in that cowardice, Mayor Harrell holds the mantle and his silence says everything.

You were elected for this, you need to do your jobs, and the community needs to be protected.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

Next, we got Jill, followed by that, we have David, and then we have Alex Zimmerman.

Jill, go ahead.

And if you're new to making comment, when you hear that chime, you have 10 seconds left, and I ask folks to hold applause in between speakers.

Go ahead, please.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Jill Kronauer.

I'm the COO and principal of Hunter's Capital.

We own and manage nine properties on Capitol Hill.

As you work through these complicated issues, I just wanted to come here and remind you about the catastrophic impact and harm that doing nothing has been on businesses and residents of the area.

One of the most successful methods to deter crime is to increase positive activities such as commerce, tourism, foot traffic, and families.

Business owners and property owners on Capitol Hill have been the sole contributors to this effort for many years.

There are no city funds provided to the businesses and property owners in Capitol Hill to help our efforts and offset the harm that the dealing and consumptions of drugs and the crime and violence has on our neighborhood and the city's inability or reluctance to respond to the issues.

It has been left to us.

And we are on the verge of losing the battle.

Some or many may say we've already lost.

Grocery stores and pharmacies, which bring much needed positive foot traffic, have left or are leaving.

QFC is leaving.

They will not stay.

As you think about drugs and crime, consider incorporating the businesses and property owners into your solutions.

Thank you.

Hi, David Haynes.

Council should take this place-based report with a grain of salt and then reject it out of principle and then chastise the mayor for even suggesting that it's going to solve the problem.

You cannot expect businesses to open up where there's a bunch of junkie-thieving drug pushers conducting uncivil war in community Remember when council a long time ago spent a million dollars breaking up one bus stop between Pine and Pike, claiming that if they made three bus stops, then everybody would be overwhelmingly a little bit more safer, and that they could quell the violence?

We've had deaths, we've had overdoses, and the cops still refuse to fight crime properly.

They want a virtue signal, they care after the fact.

Anyway...

Hold on.

Give me a second.

You should not allow the cops to propagandize the lies about crime hotspots.

All you're doing is allowing people to virtue signal that they're going to solve the problem.

And then when they first of all.

the media shows up and says, oh, look, it's safe for the community to come back into the neighborhood and spend some money because it seems like there's less people around.

Yet they're right around the corner waiting to rob you, spit their disease on you, or just make it a living hell in downtown Seattle.

Either you get a police chief to conduct a war against the evil criminals, or we need to boycott Seattle and the mayor until he resigns.

Thank you.

Next, we got Alex Zimmerman, Russell N., and Andrea S.,

Yeah, my name Alexander.

Look this slave, you know what it means?

They always happy, have one minute.

Are you freaking out, idiot?

When I come to this for years, I never see one.

From here, you know what it means, talk one minute is nothing.

Seattle is only one place, what is have one minute?

It's a Nazi pig, you understand this?

Why are you so quiet, huh?

You stupid, you slave, or idiot?

you don't understand one minute is never enough for masturbate ever for disabled men like me you understand about your talking you freaking idiot this exactly what is i want talking you see my watch stopping because god help me you know what this means this is exactly what's guys you understand seattle only one place who have one minute Open for three minutes for everybody, one day per week from 9 to 9. So civilized people come, not a school like you.

Thank you, Alex.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next, we got Russell N followed by Andrea S. And then rounding up, we got Lars E. And then last in-person public commenter, John S.

And let me just explain that we keep dropping the connection that goes to that screen, but the clerk does have an accurate read on time.

So we're trying to be fair here.

Sure.

Thank you again, everyone.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for allowing me to speak.

I'm a longtime property owner up on Capitol Hill at Broadway and Pike Street.

We've owned that building for since 1942. We have 18 commercial tenants.

We've contributed to the growth economically and culturally of the neighborhood, but however, I have witnessed the violent crime turn from sporadic to regular.

It's now every month, every week.

Recently, our manager was beat up in the morning by some taggers and he was also assaulted two weeks ago with a hammer by a mentally ill person.

So this violent crime is just sort of overflowing on a regular basis and there is no safe time.

I mean, you could come and you can do a walk around, but you see it during the day.

If you really wanna see it, you'd come and walk around at four o'clock in the morning when there's nobody else around except for 30 or 40 people who are just walking around aimlessly.

So the impact of I'm losing businesses, I'm losing tenants.

I want some help.

Thanks.

Thank you, Russell.

Next, we got Andrea S, Lars E, and then John S. Andrea.

Hi, this is Andrea Suarez, founder of We Heart Seattle, Belltown resident of 15 years and candidate for State House District 43, position two.

And I walked from Belltown down Third Avenue to here and counted more than 300 people actively using, dealing, or presenting as mentally ill with their clothing off, publicly defecating, beating each other up, being preyed on, prey on prey.

100% of the people I asked if they had housing, they said yes.

I'm down here actively using in my community.

I ran into a resident of Plymouth housing.

He said, hi, Andrea, 38 people died in the last three years at my home.

I'm glad you're running.

What are you going to do about it?

I said, we're going to get rid of fentanyl.

Are you all in?

And they all said, we're all in.

They want help.

Let's take action.

This is on the mayor.

Thank you.

Next we got Lars E and then last in-person public commenter, John S. Lars.

Thank you.

My name is Lars Erickson.

I'm the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber and a Capitol Hill resident.

Thank you, Council President Nelson, for putting forward the audit recommendations.

They will help make traction in our shared vision, prioritizing policies aimed at addressing the crisis and deep harm caused by fentanyl and other illegal drugs.

The scale of the fentanyl and methamphetamine use in our region demands that officials act at every opportunity.

The proposal of a new audit on concentrations of overdose and crime will help address barriers that have kept us from making progress.

We need to support individuals with treatment options.

We need crisis response.

We need to address the very real public safety issues that come alongside the public use of dangerous drugs.

The vision includes more people getting help, fewer people on the streets and a measurable reduction in overdose deaths.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our last in-person public commenter is going to be John S.

Good afternoon, council.

My name is John Scholes.

I'm the President and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association.

We represent about 650 companies and organizations as well as 1300 property owners within the downtown.

Those 1300 property owners are investing approximately $20 million a year in the Metropolitan Improvement District in safety, cleaning, beautification, and marketing promotion services.

I commend the city for commissioning this report.

Thank you to the executive for their response and to Council President Nelson for hers as well.

I had a chance to review it yesterday.

Our team had an opportunity to provide input, and I think it confirms the worst-held secret in Seattle, that a significant amount of drug activity and crime and suffering and harm is concentrated in a few places, and there's a number of those places in downtown Seattle.

And in a time where we have limited resources, treatment, housing, and public safety resources, I think this report should compel all of us to be focusing those limited resources in these areas, because there's too much suffering, harm, crime, and impact that's occurring under the current approach.

There's a lot of important work being done today in a number of these places identified in the audit.

By the Third Avenue project, by our police department, I was just walking on Third, our King County Sheriff's Department was down there, by other service providers.

All of that is necessary, it's not sufficient today.

And I urge you to take a careful look at these findings and to work with the executive to focus the limited safety treatment services resources we do have in the city on the places that need them most.

Thank you.

Thank you, John.

That concludes in-person public commenter, Chair Nelson.

And we have two virtual public commenters.

Go ahead, please.

Thank you.

First up, we got Alberto A. You have been unmuted.

I'll remind people who are on the line that this committee takes public comment only on the items on the agenda.

Alberto, press star six if you have any issues.

Why don't you go ahead to the next person?

Okay.

Next virtual public commenter we have is going to be Rebecca S. Rebecca?

Hello.

Alberto's on the line.

Go ahead, Alberto.

It is my turn.

I don't want to skip over someone.

Hi, I'm here.

Hi, this is Rebecca.

Thank you so much, counsel.

Hello.

Go ahead.

Rebecca, go ahead.

This could be a casualty of whatever technology issues we're having today.

So Rebecca, we cannot hear you.

So Alberto and Rebecca, you are free to up.

OK, try again.

I booted.

I want to let you know that I'm here.

I'm working with my neighbors to try to figure out what we can do.

We want to participate, we want to help, and this is a problem that we need to solve.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please send in your comments as well.

Thank you.

Okay.

Are we finished?

We got one more, Council President.

Alberto, press star six.

Go ahead, Alberto.

Hello, Justin?

Justin, can you hear me?

Yeah, we can hear you.

Go ahead.

Can you guys hear me?

Am I connected?

Yes, you are.

Go ahead, Roberto.

Go ahead.

Hello?

Am I connected or not?

You are connected.

Please go ahead.

OK, this is just going to be spotty, so we apologize.

We must ensure appointees can recognize conflict of interest when it comes to council voting and legislation.

On the topic of elections, we are in an election season.

Would appointees of the Ethics Board recognize the failure of disclosure when it comes to publishing and the press?

On the topic of ethics in relation to a council member's press release versus public editorial, For example, if the press at the behest of the current council member selectively.

Continue the time.

Provide side notes.

I want to commend Wayne Barnett for a career of over 20 years in which is his advice and oversight has always been deferred to.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

And that concludes public comment.

Okay, the public comment period is now closed, and would the clerk please read item one into the agenda.

Here's what we're going to do.

We do have several, we have multiple appointments for two commissions, so what we're going to do is read the items into the record and have the director of the commissions come up and speak to the to the positions that will be filled, then we'll move on to, I'll move them for a vote.

So go ahead for the first two ones, please.

Of course.

Agenda item number one and two, appointment 02913 and 02914 of Bobby Forge as a member, Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission for a term to December 31st, 2026. And Jonathan Shermer as member, Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission for a term to December 31st, 2025. Briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

And while folks are getting seated, I will note that Jonathan Shermer is joining us online, and he's been a steady presence there in the corner of my screen.

So hopefully we can hear you when it comes time for you to share some thoughts.

Hello, Director, go ahead, please.

Well, thank you very much, Madam President.

I'm here today with the two nominees that you've appointed to the commission.

Bobby Forge, who spent a long time with the Department of Transportation here at the city and is now with the State Department of Transportation, not working for them, but as a consultant.

And Jonathan Shermer is an attorney at Lane Powell.

He is a very nice man.

I met him the other day.

We had a cup of coffee, so...

That was a good thing.

These are the people who are responsible for overseeing the laws that the commission oversees.

We are a seven-member commission.

Three of them are appointed by the council, three by the mayor, and those six together choose the seventh.

So that's how we are organized.

The codes we enforce are the ethics code, the elections code, the lobbying code, the whistleblower protection code.

So we have a full plate, and, yeah, I'm very happy to present these two.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Forch, I remember you from your work at SDOT from a long time ago, and I appreciate your advocacy on behalf of small businesses owned by people of color, and I look forward to hearing you introduce yourself a bit more.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President Nelson.

My name is Bobby Forch, and I am about a 35-plus year resident of the city of Seattle.

I live in the Central District.

For those of you familiar with the Central District, 26 and Cherry, then you know where I'm at.

I've had the pleasure to have a very proud career of working with the city of Seattle with some really wonderful people, so I see this as a bit of a homecoming for me.

So I'm happy to be here and be amongst you.

As you mentioned, I have focused on oversight, monitoring and enforcement of the utilization of women and minorities on capital programs and capital projects.

I have served as the city's contracting manager here at the city of Seattle.

And once leaving after 25 years, I created my own business, Bobby Forge Consulting, LLC.

And my primary clients are Washington State Department of Transportation, where I oversee about $8 billion worth of capital programs, ensuring that women and people of color have a full access to participate.

I am happy to be here.

I've worked in the regulatory environment as a strategic advisor for probably over three decades with a focus on safety, HR, and contracting.

Thank you very much.

Okay, Jonathan, would you like to say a few words about your background?

Yes, thank you for having me.

And apologies, there's some technical difficulties.

So I've only been able to hear bits and pieces.

I meant to attend in person, but unfortunately, I injured my ankle in a soccer game last night.

So I'm a bit laid up.

So please bear with me over Zoom here.

My name is Jonathan Schirmer.

I'm a resident of Magnolia.

I'm an attorney at Lane Power.

entities and trial and public contracting issues and litigation resolving around construction issues.

So, you know, a lot of work dealing with council,

You are getting, so I have to interrupt.

You are, you just cut out for several seconds.

We all have your bio in our packets and I will just note that to repeat what you have, you're currently employed by Lane Powell and you do have history representing public entities.

You're familiar with the regulatory environment.

And let me see if I can...

Well, this is a very long resume, so I won't go into all of it.

I will just say that what we need on the commission are people that understand how the public sector works and are very closely familiar with contracting law because that is an area of...

ethics violations sometimes, willingly and unwillingly.

So that was important for me to make sure that that was a skill that was well represented on this body.

Do you wanna go ahead and if you can just try to wrap up.

I apologize, the sound is kind.

Yeah, this isn't gonna work.

I just introduced you and spoke for you and I apologize for that.

I think that we should proceed to moving these appointments and a vote.

Okay.

WITH THAT, I MOVE THAT COUNCIL APPROVE ITEMS 1 AND 2, WHICH ARE APPOINTMENTS 02-913 AND 02-914 OF BOBBY FORCH AS MEMBER, SEATTLE ETHICS AND ELECTIONS COMMISSION FOR A TERM TO DECEMBER 31, 2026, AND JONATHAN SHERMER AS MEMBER, SEATTLE ETHICS AND ELECTIONS COMMISSION FOR A TERM TO DECEMBER 31, 2025. Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you very much.

Do my colleagues have any questions?

Okay.

All right.

Will the clerk please call the roll on those two appointments?

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Nelson?

Aye.

Four in favor, nine opposed.

Thank you very much.

Hold on a second.

The appointments have been approved, and the chair will sign them, and they will be up for a vote not this coming Tuesday, but the following Tuesday.

I apologize to Jonathan, who we could only hear spotily.

You are both welcome to come on Tuesday for the full council vote.

Thank you very much for coming today.

Thank you so much for your service.

One last thing, I always say this, but I recognize that you have busy lives and you're stepping up to donate your service and expertise and I very much appreciate it.

So thank you for serving.

Okay.

All right.

Before we proceed to the next agenda items, I'm wondering is there any way that we alerted IT, is there a plug that's loose?

This is a network, city network wide issue.

City network wide issue.

Okay, got it.

Plugging it in won't help.

Okay, will the clerk please read items three, two, seven on the agenda.

Item, agenda items three, four, five, six, and seven, reappointment 02-908, 02-909, and 02-911 of Daniel Alvarado and Tom Lambro as members of Labor Standards Advisory Commissions for a term to April 30th, 2026, and Billy Hetherington as member Labor Standards Advisory Commission for a term to April 30th, 2025, and appointment 02910 and 029112 of Samuel Hilbert and Amanda Pauter as members Labor Standards Advisory Commission for a term to April 30th, 2025.

Go ahead, please introduce yourself and the panel and take it away.

Good afternoon, Council President Nelson and all of the committee members.

My name is Shu-Hsuan Zhou, and I am a policy analyst with Office of Labor Standards.

I also serve as the department liaison for LSAC Labor Standards Advisory Commission.

And today with me are three candidates in person and two candidates virtually.

And I will briefly introduce the commission and then pass my back pass my mic to all of the candidates to introduce themselves and why they are interested in serving and continuing serving in the commission lsac is is a commission advises office of labor standards mayor council and also other city department with matters regarding to labor standards in general, and also wages, working conditions, workers' safety, and health specifically.

All of the commissioners have been regularly meeting with OS director and the staff to provide a lot of valuable input and feedback on the implementation of labor standards.

They also specifically providing recommendations related to how labor standards can serve and improve working conditions for women, communities of color, and immigrants and refugees, and other vulnerable workers.

So we really, really value their services.

And now I'm just gonna pass the mic on to all of the candidates.

Hi, everybody.

My name is Danielle Alvarado.

To share a little bit about my background, the first thing I think, you know, part of what brings me to this work, like many of us, is our personal experience.

I'm the granddaughter of a farm worker.

And during the pandemic, a partner to an essential worker, my husband worked at grocery stores for many years.

And that experience in particular really gave me a firsthand view of how how quickly working conditions in the economy can change and the really important role that our local government can play in making sure that we respond adequately and with adequate protections that really meet the moment and how much work it takes to really do that.

That personal experience with issues facing low-wage workers and the importance of making sure that our economy is one where really all work is dignified and paid well really led me to pursue a career as an attorney.

I've been a legal services attorney now for almost a decade.

That work has been primarily working with communities of color and immigrant workers first as a deportation defense attorney.

And five years ago, I joined the Fair Work Center working with workers who are victims of wage theft, who had lacked access to paid leave, sick time.

And part of the expertise that I bring to LSAC is really understanding the number of barriers that low-income people can face navigating our systems, even the ones that are the best resource and the most well-intentioned.

And so I think, in particular, the work that LSAC does to ensure that we not only have good ideas, but they're implemented in ways that are effective and accessible to the communities that need it most is really at the heart of what my career has been dedicated to.

And that enforcement infrastructure and access to government, in particular for low-wage workers, is incredibly important because oftentimes the private bar won't take their cases, even if there's a good legal claim.

Being able to help OLS understand and think about how its systems are accessible is really a critical part of what I think LSAT can do and part of my contribution over the last few years.

And I look forward to continuing to partner with the city, with the agency and the council in order to make sure that our aspirations are really realized for all Seattle residents.

Hello, council members.

Thank you for having me today.

My name is Samuel Hilbert.

I own Alul Cellars.

We have three locations in Seattle, Capitol Hill, Ballard, and Queen Anne as well.

I come at it from a little bit different perspective.

When I first looked at this commission, it was very important to me that there was a diversity in types of voices here.

And I noticed that there seemed to be lacking a bit of the small business presence.

And I think the small businesses are very, very important to our city.

I think probably most people agree with that here as well.

But I also think a lot of these small businesses are, I mean, a business like mine is where people get their start in the wine industry quite often.

As people move to Seattle, they come into our place.

It's very important for me that we get to amplify them and raise them up, get them in the direction that they want to go.

And I saw on this commission that it was very important to make sure that small businesses were represented in their voices as well.

So that's really brought me into this passion here.

I try very hard to get involved in our neighborhoods.

I serve on the Capitol Hill Business Alliance Board.

I serve on Queen and Community Council Board.

Very heavily involved in the Ballard Alliance as well.

I get to communicate with Council Member Hollingsworth quite often as well.

Thanks to the CHBA there, she's been very active in our community.

She probably gets to hear from me maybe a little more than she wants to sometimes, but I appreciate her being very responsive as well there.

But yeah, I'm really excited to come here.

I'm excited that there's a couple small business people that seem to be on this, hopefully getting appointed today as well.

So thank you for having me.

Okay.

Okay.

Hi, good afternoon.

Thank you, Council President and members of the committee.

I am Tom Lambrough.

It's been my privilege to serve on LSAC for the last number of years.

My day job, I'm the political and legislative director for UFCW 3000. I'm also the elected president of MLK Labor.

I'm proud to get to work with over 100 affiliates to that labor council.

But I want to point out one thing that Samuel said that I think is really important.

is that the Labor Standards Advisory Committee has been an opportunity for us, those of us that come from the labor community, to work pretty closely with our counterparts in the business community.

And that's been a really good experience, I think, for many of us that don't naturally necessarily always get to work together.

So I am glad to have new faces from the business community on that commission.

I think it helps round us all out.

So I would ask for your support and really gotten a lot out of my experience in the last number of years on the commission and look forward to continuing to work for the city.

Thank you very much.

We'll give the folks that are attending remotely a shot and hopefully cross our fingers that it goes well.

Go ahead, please.

Go ahead, Amanda.

You've been unmuted.

Great.

Hi, my name is Amanda Powder.

I use she, her pronouns.

I'm a small business owner of a business on Capitol Hill.

And I echo a little bit of what Samuel said as wanting to provide my perspective.

I'll try to talk fast in case the IT interrupts me.

I come from a perspective as well.

I spent my first 20 years in tech and working at some incredibly large companies and doing things like being on every side of a layoff, both watching my friends and colleagues walk out the door in some of the mass tech layoffs, as a manager implementing layoffs that I had no say in, and then also planning having to lay people off as part of a reduction in force that I myself planned.

And I've gotten a lot of insight into, I feel, every aspect of being a worker as well as managing folks and planning that.

I became a small business owner at the end of 2019 in a fantastic bit of timing, just before the global pandemic hit.

And as a member of GSBA, I got a lot of support and met a lot of other fellow business, small business owners, and saw how they uniquely and commonly addressed the challenges of the pandemic as part of the WeGSBA group with other Uh, women and gender expansive entrepreneurs within GSBA.

We connected to try to figure out how to make it through and keep our heads above water.

And they learn not only about what it took for that to do that for my business, but also the aspects of many other businesses.

Um, a lot of these experiences led me to where I am today.

Um, so look at the details and every side of a problem and collaborate to support a shared vision.

I think our shared goals will help us thrive, help businesses and workers thrive if we can work together.

And I think it's really important that the businesses implementing a lot of these are at the table and participating with other folks.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you, Billy.

You've been unmuted.

thank you and afternoon council president and rest of the committee distinguished members of the committee i think we've fixed the loose plug i think we're good now so um but i will speak fast and shorten my comments for everybody but uh thank you uh billy heatherington i am the political director for lion the local 242 we're construction local here in king county at represent private and public sector workers uh a lot of who work for the city of Seattle.

Among some other roles that I serve, I serve as advisory chair for the Highline School District.

I'm on the Berrien Economic Development Panel and the president of a 125-year association in the Washington State Good Roads.

And I just wanted to tell you a little bit about myself for those of you who might not know and kind of how I feel that a position like this has kind of brought me full circle in my life.

I was born in a small town in eastern Washington to a father that Worked out at Hanford as a member of LIONA.

He's coming up on his 50th year with LIONA.

Feel grateful he's still with us and still, you know, living well in retirement.

When work slowed at Hanford, he moved his family over to Western Washington.

We grew up in an unincorporated King County and a blue collar area and, you know, and had everything, every ends meet everything that we needed.

But like every other parent, they wanted more for their children and You know, being a being a child of the nineties and early two thousands, you know, we were, I was really getting pushed along with a lot of my other friends off to college is kind of the only way to to make it in this world.

And so I drifted off to college graduated college was the 1st in my extended family to graduate from college and it was, you know.

really a proud moment for me and my family.

I ventured off into corporate America, but while I was in college, to back up a little bit, I actually worked for my local and was able to graduate college debt-free, working a summer job in the construction industry.

After college, I ventured off into corporate America.

and you know at places like wells fargo chase manhattan among others and just realized that that type of work atmosphere and kind of not knowing day to day what what type of things were going to be next for me on my on my plate was just not the type of atmosphere the team app team atmosphere and the type of work that i was conditioned for i went back in the construction industry um and fell back into the strong labor protections, benefits, you know, wages that my dad had raised us on our whole entire life.

And so now being able to, after a strong career in the construction industry, being able to sit on a commission like this and be able to help lift up labor standards, wages, benefits, anything that I can for Seattle residents is just a true honor for me.

And I hope that you can take a moment to reappoint me to this commission.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

With this, I will go ahead and I'll say a couple words and then I'll move the appointments.

I just have to say for the folks that are stepping up again for another term, thank you very, very much for coming forward and continuing to serve the city.

I really appreciate it.

We've got some really hardcore labor specialists here and we've got two new reappointments who are small business owners and I think that is significant.

What we're trying to do with these appointments, at least personally, is bring labor and business together for the good of all workers in the city.

And I think that those two perspectives are very necessary because that's how we ensure that our laws are enforced well and good ideas are put forward and that there is robust discussion amongst you all as you do your work for the commission at your meetings and meetings.

INDIVIDUALLY.

SO WITH THAT, IF THERE ARE ANY COMMENTS FROM MY COLLEAGUES?

OKAY.

THUMBS UP FROM OVER HERE, COUNCILMEMBER HOLLINGSWORTH.

OKAY.

I MOVE THAT THE COMMITTEE RECOMMEND CONFIRMATION OF APPOINTMENT 02908 THROUGH 02912. IS THERE A SECOND?

SECOND.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

IT'S BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED TO CONFIRM THESE APPOINTMENTS.

WILL THE CLERK PLEASE CALL THE ROLL ON THEM?

COUNCILMEMBER HOLLINGSWORTH?

Yes.

Councilmember Saka?

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Nelson?

Aye.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Excellent.

Congratulations, everybody.

Thank you very much for stepping up, offering your expertise, and helping the city move forward for everybody.

Appreciate it.

Will the clerk please read the following item into the agenda?

Into the record, I mean.

Of course.

Agenda item number eight.

CB120781, an ordinance updating definitions in the Seattle Municipal Code related to cannabis businesses to align with state law and amending section 6.500.020 of the Seattle Municipal Code, briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you very much.

KETO FREEMAN FROM COUNCIL CENTRAL STAFF HERE TO JUST GIVE US A BRIEF OVERVIEW.

I WILL SIMPLY SAY THAT THIS AGAIN IS WE HAD OUR FIRST DISCUSSION AT OUR LAST COMMITTEE MEETING.

THIS IS A TECHNICAL CLEANUP BILL AND IT'S NECESSARY BECAUSE LAST YEAR THE STATE LEGISLATURE CHANGED THE DEFINITION OF SOCIAL EQUITY APPLICANT WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CANNABIS LICENSES AND THE CITY LAW WAVING THE FEE FOR CANNABIS SOCIAL EQUITY APPLICANTS IS NOW OUT OF DATE.

because it's based on the old state definition.

So we have to conform to state law so we can wave the feet.

Go ahead, Ketel.

Fill in whatever I've missed.

Sure.

Ketel Freeman, Council Central staff.

I really don't have much to add to that.

The committee was briefed on the 12th.

There's not a policy change represented by this bill.

It is largely amending definitions so that they're consistent with changes made to state law in 2023-21.

A practical consequence of this bill, as the Council President mentioned, is that social equity applicants who have received licenses from the state of Washington, when the rules for that are promulgated by the Liquor and Cannabis Board, will be able to avail themselves of fee waivers when they apply for licenses in the city.

There should be a small number of additional licensees in the city, but it remains to be seen.

It will be determined by the control board's rulemaking process.

Thank you very much.

Do my colleagues have any questions?

Seeing none, I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 120781. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to pass Council Bill 120781. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Chair Nelson?

Aye.

Four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you very much.

The bill passes.

All right, go ahead and read the next item into the agenda and then people can settle and I'll say some remarks.

Agenda item number nine, addressing places in Seattle where overdoses and crime are concentrated, an evidence-based approach.

Briefing and discussion.

All right, so while people are coming to the table, I just have to...

I have to, it's odd because just a couple weeks ago, I mean a couple days ago, and people might have read this report, there was a piece by Danny Westmead in the Seattle Times and it was headlined, Seattle's fentanyl epidemic may have peaked and no one's sure why.

I think it's a stretch to...

Okay.

It might be a stretch to say that the fentanyl epidemic may have peaked because I don't think that we are really talking about the epidemic of fentanyl addiction.

And it's really clear that from the public comment of people that were here earlier today, the impacts of the fentanyl-driven drug crisis certainly have not peaked.

And we see that as we walk up and down Third Avenue and elsewhere in our city, that the impacts are ongoing.

And I do laud the fact that people are not dying because of the wide distribution of fentanyl.

And that's one of the reasons that this article by Danny Westneat does make the point that the 911 call responses have gone down.

In fact, they have decreased 24% in the second quarter of this year compared to last year.

But again, we need to address the impacts on our communities.

People are living...

overdose to overdose.

Many are committing crimes to support their addiction.

This is having a toll on people on businesses along our arterials downtown and also in the location that this audit is focused, which there is a case study on a couple block segment of 3rd Avenue.

And those are where there is a permanent supportive housing facility and also the YWCA as well.

And so we must address the impacts of the epidemic that is ongoing.

It's no surprise to anyone that the drug crisis is fueling.

property and violent crime, and it's time that we really do something about it.

And the good news is, and I understand the cynicism and the disappointment and the exasperation and impatience of the people that spoke earlier about yet another study, and when are we going to do something?

The good news is that this audit does provide a roadmap, and we don't have to reinvent the wheel.

This audit identifies already existing resources, technical and financial funding resources from the federal government.

It also points to jurisdictions that have put in place strategies that have proven to work.

And so I share the impatience of the people that spoke earlier today.

And I also want to note that we have the knowledge base and the people at this table who really do want to make a change.

And it's all a question of if we know what we have to do, then we have to do it finally.

And so that is what today's conversation is all about.

So with that, I will ask you to introduce yourselves and then you're free to go ahead and start your presentation.

Thank you, Council President.

I'm Claudia Gross-Shader.

I am the Director of Research and Evaluation with the Office of City Auditor.

I'm Ayib Yoshitoki.

I'm an Assistant City Auditor with the Office of City Auditor.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Council President Nelson and Council Members.

Natalie Walton Anderson, Director of Public Safety from the Mayor's Office.

Hi, my name is Matt Duran.

I'm the Deputy Director of the Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, commonly referred to as HIDA, here representing my Executive Director, Jonathan Wiener.

Good afternoon.

My name is Eliza Powell.

I am the Prevention and Treatment Manager at Northwest HIDA.

Good afternoon.

My name is Mike Miser.

I'm the Drug Intelligence Officer at Northwest Haida and a member of the Overdose Response Strategy Team.

Good afternoon.

My name is Aliyah Baines.

I'm the Behavioral Health Program Manager with Plymouth Housing.

Good afternoon, and thank you for having us here.

My name is Mona Sherwald.

I'm the Homeless Initiatives and Veterans Director for the YWCA.

Good afternoon.

I'm Anna Prayapong-Pisan.

I'm the regional director of our King County Permanent Housing Programs at the YWCA.

Thank you very much.

And those mics move so you can pull them closer to you so you don't have to lean forward.

And there is a lot of information in this audit.

I would ask if my colleagues have questions on something that was said that was not clear, go ahead and indicate that you have a question.

If you have a more substantive question or want to make a comment, let's hold those until the end.

Go ahead, please.

Great, thank you.

The issues of overdose and crime are complex, and there's much that needs to be done.

But we hope, as the council president said, that this audit offers this city a roadmap of some tangible steps to take by using existing city resources, leveraging support from federal agencies, and following examples from other jurisdictions.

Our report recommends that the city tackle these complex issues by strategically focusing on those precise locations where the data shows us that overdoses and crime are highly concentrated.

We also recommend using strategies that are proven effective for our current conditions in Seattle.

Everyone in Seattle, especially our most vulnerable residents, deserves strategies that are effective for preventing overdose and crime.

For members of the public, you can find our report at www.seattle.gov slash city auditor slash reports.

And as with all of our audits, we followed the US government auditing standards so you can be assured of the quality and independence of our work.

And in addition for this audit, we harnessed the collective power of a lot of agencies and stakeholders.

We received free technical assistance from the U.S.

Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance Comprehensive Opioid Stimulant and Substance Abuse Program and the Office of National Drug Control Policy's Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

or, as they introduced themselves, Northwest Haida.

They are a division of the US Drug Czar's Office, and they are here today.

We also asked researchers at the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University and the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at Washington State University's College of Medicine to provide input on our report.

And for this audit, we wanted to test our audit findings by using a case study approach.

We selected a location in Seattle where overdoses and crime are concentrated.

That is Third Avenue from Virginia to Blanchard.

And we worked closely with all of the agencies in the case study area who are listed here on our slide.

And we're really grateful for this collaboration and very happy that partners from Plymouth Housing and the YWCA could join us today.

And finally, the city departments and organizations listed here on the slide also provided feedback on the report and recommendations.

While the landscape of drug use in Seattle has rapidly changed in recent years, synthetic drugs have contributed significantly to the rising overdoses in our area.

And preliminary data from 2024 show a slight leveling off.

However, in 2023, there were 1,087 fentanyl-involved deaths compared with 34 heroin-involved deaths in King County.

And although fentanyl and heroin are both opioids, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid.

It's easier and less costly to make and distribute than heroin.

And polysubstance use is also increasingly contributing to fatal overdoses.

In 2020, 360% of all fatal overdoses in King County involved the combination of an opioid like fentanyl and a stimulant like methamphetamine or cocaine.

According to the folks at Northwest Haida, who are here, Synthetic drug prices dropped rapidly between 2022 and 2023 in Washington state, and those data are in our report.

Law enforcement officials reported to us during the course of our audit that in 2024, the current street value of fentanyl in Seattle can be less than $1 per tablet.

Another recent change is the frequency in drug use.

According to law enforcement officials and behavioral health experts, fentanyl produces a high that's intense but short in duration.

So therefore, people using fentanyl may use the drug frequently up to 20 times per day.

People who use fentanyl may also use it in combination with other synthetic drugs, such as methamphetamine, to alter or extend the effects of fentanyl.

And we know that overdoses and crime occur all over the city, but we find that there are certain small geographical areas where these events are highly concentrated.

This is consistent with decades of research that shows that crime tends to concentrate at certain small geographical locations that are sometimes called hotspots.

We worked with the data-driven unit at SPD to analyze data on crime against persons and overdoses that the fire department responded to.

Our analysis shows that 10 continuous street segments account for a disproportionate amount of incidents between July 2022 and July 2023. We selected the fourth street segment on the list shown above.

as our case study site based on our past engagement, the trends in overdoses and literature review.

As Claudia mentioned, our case, our audit case study focused on the two block area in the Bedknot neighborhood.

This area includes permanent supportive housing facilities and organizations that provide services to people experiencing homelessness.

Our data analysis shows that between July 2022 and July 2023, 11 fatal overdoses occurred at the case study site.

Ten of the 11 fatal overdoses occurred in or outside of the three permanent supportive housing buildings at this location.

During that same period, the fire department received 30 calls for services related to overdoses.

and SPD responded to 34 crimes against persons.

Four staff members of the organizations within the case study sites were victims of these crimes.

As part of our data analysis, we also surveyed 138 people who work or live at the case study sites, including permanent supportive housing residents.

The full results of our data analysis is included in the audit reports.

So although crime is concentrated at hot spots, no two hot spots are alike.

For example, although these intersections all show up in our data set as hot spots for overdose and crime, the conditions at 3rd and Pike are very different than the conditions at Pike and Broadway and different still than the conditions at 12th and Jackson.

And because no two hotspots are alike, research also shows us that systematically diagnosing and disrupting those unique characteristics is the best approach.

And it's best accomplished using an established place-based problem-solving framework.

And in our audit, we described the strategic prevention framework from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

There's a lot of free technical assistance available from the federal government for using the strategic prevention framework, including assistance from the Northwest Haida folks who are here today.

So our report also recommends that the mayor's office should lead the city in seeking federal technical assistance and funding to address places where overdoses and crimes are concentrated.

Also, we recommended that the mayor's office identify a high-level project champion to oversee this work going forward.

IB described our case study site on Third Avenue from Virginia to Blanchard.

And during the course of our audit, we followed the step in the strategic prevention framework called assessment.

As part of this assessment step, we conducted site visits.

We did walking tours with the stakeholder agencies, with SPD, city departments, metro transit, and community members, like shown in this photo here.

We shared data with the stakeholders about overdoses and crimes that occurred at the site.

We shared other data like vacancy rates and data from the resident survey.

And the group reviewed an assessment of crime prevention through environmental design for the site that was prepared by the Seattle Police Department.

And for some of the agencies that are located on these two blocks, this was the first time that they had all met each other to discuss the common challenges that they all face at this location.

Our report notes some of the opportunity areas that emerged at the case study site.

There was wide recognition that activating the vacant storefronts could be very helpful in providing guardianship for the street environment.

There's a need for more recovery supports, especially for the residents of the permanent supportive housing at Plymouth and the YWCA.

And there was a desire to continue the information sharing and collaboration among the entities at the site.

And the folks here from Plymouth and the YWCA today will share their experience with the case study work.

And during the course of our audit, our office partnered with SPD, with Plymouth and the YWCA to apply for a five-year $1.8 million federal grant to reduce fatal overdoses and improve community safety at this site.

So we will hear whether we were selected for that award next month.

As evidenced at our case study site, this focused strategic approach takes coordination among city departments, other governments, and stakeholder organizations.

And this level of coordination does not currently exist at the city of Seattle.

There are coordination models noted in our report, including FEMA's National Incident Management System and Snohomish County's multi-agency group, Our report recommends that the mayor's office implement a coordination system that has well-defined objectives, goals, and reporting mechanisms.

Our report also acknowledged what a great resource Northwest Haida can be for the city, especially for providing ongoing technical assistance and coordinating with federal agencies.

And we recommended in our audit that the mayor's office formalize the city's relationship with Northwest Haida.

In our report, we describe various types of data that could be helpful for place-based problem solving.

This could include looking at patterns in times of day when overdoses and crimes are occurring, or looking at transit patterns at the site.

This might also include survey data, like the survey that we conducted at the case study site.

Or it may include information about business vacancies or the physical layout of the site.

In our audit report, we combined overdose data from the Seattle Fire Department with crime data from the Seattle Police Department for July 2022 through July of 2023. And this was the first time in the city that this analysis had been done.

But conditions change, and the city should be routinely looking at this data and tracking changes in these concentrations of overdose and crime regularly.

We're happy to report that during the course of our audit, the mayor's office worked to implement one of the recommendations related to data, which is the city's participation in the free federal overdose tracking program.

And Natalie will speak to that in her remarks.

In our audit, we also recommended that the city should explore establishing a joint law enforcement task force for fatal overdoses.

SPD does not currently investigate fatal overdoses.

However, investigating fatal overdoses can help the city collect data about the circumstances of those fatal overdoses, and that data can help inform some of our place-based problem solving efforts.

The DEA and the US Attorney's Office are partnering with jurisdictions all over the country to investigate fatal overdoses.

In these other jurisdictions, when a patrol officer accompanies the medical examiner to the scene of a fatal overdose, they fill out a one-page checklist about the scene.

This checklist helps the investigators from the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration, assess whether there may be enough evidence for a successful case.

Federal support is available for this work.

As I was just mentioning to Natalie, in San Diego, three DEA agents investigate the cases for the city of San Diego.

In Utah, the state received federal funding to support local law enforcement for more capacity to do that investigative work.

Here in Seattle, officials from the DEA and the U.S.

Attorney are willing to partner with the city on a joint law enforcement task force, and the mayor's office has agreed to take the lead on the next steps.

So it's really vital to use strategies that are proven to work.

and we don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Our report identified four types of place-based crime prevention strategies that are backed by decades of research.

The first is increasing guardianship.

Guardians at place can include staff, who are employed to regulate conduct at that location, like bouncers hired by a bar or a nightclub.

Guardianship can also be exercised informally by shoppers who can easily see from the inside of a location out to activities on the street and are willing to call 911 if needed.

The second set of strategies is changing the physical environment.

And this covers a wide range of evidence-based interventions.

For example, improving street lighting and remediating vacant lots has strong research evidence for reducing crime problems at places.

And then there's changing or enforcing rules and policies.

For example, the use of code enforcement teams and civil nuisance abatement procedures can be effective for reducing crimes at certain locations.

And then there's building capacity for community problem solving.

There's strong evidence that sustained community mobilization efforts can result in reductions in crime at the places where these efforts are focused.

Our research also shows that there are four categories of overdose and substance use prevention strategies.

An appropriate amount of investment in these evidence-based strategies is needed for an effective and efficient response to overdoses and substance use disorder.

These four pillars support a system of care model, like the recovery-oriented system of care, which could help the city in identifying and effectively addressing the varieties of need that are associated with substance use disorder.

The first pillar of overdose and substance use prevention is the delivery of evidence-based treatments.

We summarized potential opportunities for the expansion of the medications that are approved for treating opioid use disorder.

We also highlighted some leading behavioral and psychosocial therapy in our report, and we included the cost-benefit analysis of these interventions.

The second pillar is recovery support, which is a key strategy in the recovery-oriented system of care, and it includes psychosocial support and wraparound services that enhance stabilization and facilitate recovery and awareness.

Research has shown that offering integrated services that support recovery can lead to better long-term outcomes for people with substance use disorder.

Examples of evidence-based recovery support services include recovery housing, peer recovery support, and job placement programs.

We also highlighted two leading harm reduction strategies in the report.

Those are linkage to care initiative and opioid overdose prevention education and naloxone distribution.

These strategies acknowledge the importance of keeping people who use drugs alive and supporting their well-being while also linking them to care and recovery supports.

The final category is primary prevention and data monitoring.

Data monitoring is important so the city can understand the changing nature of the drug market and the overdose crisis.

Primary prevention is a key strategy that is often overlooked.

Primary prevention should address both the demand and supply side of drug use, and primary prevention tends to range from population-level strategies to targeted intervention for youth and young adults.

Lastly, we recommend that the city regularly evaluates its efforts to address places where overdoses and crime are concentrated.

Strategies to address these places should be well-planned monitored and improved upon based on evaluation findings.

Evaluation can help ensure program efficiency and the city can further innovate and refine its programs through evaluation and continuous quality improvements.

In conclusion, although these issues are extremely complex, our audit identifies some concrete, systematic, evidence-based steps that the city can take today to reduce overdoses and crime in the places where they're concentrated.

Thank you so much for your interest in this audit and for inviting us today.

And with that, I will turn it over to our panel, starting with Natalie Walton Anderson, the Director of Public Safety for the Mayor's Office.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President Nelson and Council Members, again, for allowing me the opportunity to present with this panel and to make a few comments in support of all of the audit recommendations that are made in this report.

I also want to thank Dr. Claudia Gross-Shader and her colleague for their great research work and partnership with the Mayor's Office and over half a dozen local agencies and law enforcement to...

complete this report.

What originated as a request from Mayor Harrell and former Council President Juarez in identifying the best evidence-based approaches to addressing overdose and the overlapping instances of crime and where it is concentrated was absolutely needed to save lives and ensure that everybody in the city is actually feeling safe and being safe and being able to protect their businesses and homes.

And what the audit report showed us is that we can do more.

The mayor's office can do more with our current resources in terms of coordination and working with our partners to bring everyone together to actually support and effectuate these recommendations.

And the impact of fatal and non-fatal overdoses cannot be understated, and neither can the impact of intersecting crime that happens with that.

I can't say it any more articulately than our members in the audience today or council president, but they have stated over and over again for many years and even decades the impact of crime when six of the locations located in this report are in the downtown Bell Street area.

What those comments tell me and what this report tells me are there are some place-based strategies and improvements that we can do in terms of the existing resources to make improvements quickly and efficiently and thoughtfully for our residents.

And the mayor's office is committed to doing that.

In terms of a champion for that program, that would be me as the new public safety director working with my colleague Andrew Meyerberg.

Even though I've only been here in the mayor's office for a month, I've had 27 years of this work in terms of being a prosecutor, a victim advocate, working both in terms of prosecution here at the county level, the city level, and the federal level.

And I am excited to support the work of this audit and support the residents of the city in partnership with our council members.

The mayor supports this report, the recommendations there, and we are anxious to move this work along.

I do want to spend a little bit of my limited time talking about some of the recent investments that go towards some of these recommendations.

I think one, just to talk about some of the things that were mentioned in the report, the physical environmental changes are things that we can do.

We've done those already in terms of Rainier Beach many years ago.

We've done those with Faux Depth, beautiful neighborhood.

We presented on this several weeks ago to council.

And there's already so much information on what we can do on Third Avenue and the other areas named in this report.

We can use those place-based strategies to make change.

And the mayor's office is perfectly positioned to get those departments that work on those environmental changes to move forward.

In addition to that, We've done a lot of work in terms of our vacant buildings, which is one of the other things that has been mentioned in the report as something that we can do.

And we can continue to move that forward in terms of not just the vacant buildings, but also re-energizing some of the buildings that are currently unoccupied.

Those are things that are things that we can move forward and help with and support.

In addition to that, some of the other investments that the recent investments that we've made is launching the Seattle fire departments.

Health 99 post-overdose team not only to respond to overdoses but also to connect people and those suffering from opioid use disorder to treatment and care.

We have to take the next step of introducing and continuing to introduce people to treatment and care.

Launching the pilot program that allows Seattle Fire paramedics to administer buprenorphine has also been something that has helped in terms of treating the non-fatal overdoses that we've seen in terms of the city.

The investments at DESC in terms of supporting the overdose stabilization are also investments we've made.

And in the mayor's State of the City speech, we currently are still trying to find a location for the post-overdose facility.

And the mayor has gone on record of saying that we would welcome a post-overdose youth facility as well.

I think the significant investments and expansion in the CARE team are also something that is going to address some of the rampant crime that's associated with overdose here and the intersections in these, especially these 10 areas that are located in this audit report.

The CARE team is going to use data in terms of being able to deploy our care team workers to those areas.

And I think that's incredibly important in terms of the fact that we have finally, and thank you for pointing that out, combined both the data from both Seattle Fire and SPD in terms of this report.

In addition, Seattle Police Department does continue to work with our federal partners, and I know that there is a recommendation to push even further on the work that we can do I've already spent time talking to this council about the staffing resources, but I want to point out some of the good work and task force work that they've already been doing with the support and the direction of the mayor's office.

Just a few weeks ago, there was a highlighted report that started with the Seattle Police Department, and the end led to a major international drug trafficking case that came from Seattle to Mexico.

That was a huge investigation, and it really did stop a huge supply of drugs from coming into our community.

We need more of that and we also still need more officers to support this work.

And task force work is a great way to leverage our federal partners to help support when we do have the staffing crisis that we continue to have here in Seattle.

But I did want to highlight some of the good work that Seattle Police is already doing and does work on a regular basis in investigating task force and employing their officers to work on task force cases.

What I want to say, I know I'm close on time, is we have a long way to go.

And what I do read over and over in this report is there needs to be a champion coordination of care, overlap in terms of those services, and making sure that we are utilizing our resources effectively in the areas noted to make sure that we are making swift and significant improvements.

I want to thank again.

Dr. Claudia Gross-Shader for this audit and report.

And I want to thank council for allowing me to speak in support of all of the recommendations as we continue to move those forward.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Once again, I'm here from Northwest Haida, and it's a high-intensity drug trafficking area.

We're one of 33 Haidas across the nation.

Our area of responsibility is the state of Washington, so we have a pretty big area to cover and, you know, similar problems across the state.

By law, we're mandated to support our 19 different initiatives, the law enforcement initiatives.

So we provide intelligence, funding, and the real point of HIDA is to bring state, local, federal, law enforcement, community-based, you know...

public health together.

And we fund some grants, about 16 of those with public health and 19 different initiatives across the state.

One of the things that we did do as part of Claudia's interaction with us is that a couple of our intelligence analysts and a drug task force officer from the DEA, who's actually Kevin Kingsley from the Washington State Patrol, formed this Northwest Fentanyl OD Investigation Group.

And the idea behind it is that because of stretch resources that they meet quarterly and they provide information.

There's actually a four-hour class that they provide to any law enforcement or any task force members that want to start doing overdose investigations.

And they meet quarterly and they share information and they have people from inside the state, outside the state to be able to do that.

So that would be one of our recommendations that they participate if once you form your task force or, you know, the law enforcement has folks designated to this investigation.

It's free.

It's conducted at Northwest Haida and it's available.

to anybody just by asking.

The name of that program?

Pardon me?

Sorry, to participate in, what is the formal name of that?

It's the Northwest Fentanyl Overdose Investigation Working Group.

Okay.

And we can provide information from that, and Claudia has that direct communication that we can provide that with.

You know, so this is a way for intelligent sharing, and it's a free platform.

And it was specifically designed as a nontraditional task force that's decentralized, so we can bring...

You don't have to have a complete...

You don't have to have 10 people assigned to it, and you can use it, stretch resources.

They also have a checklist for those patrol officers, like mentioned, when they're going out to these overdoses to try to identify these potential cases to be able to take them to the next level.

And then, you know, we can always provide information and...

you know, for other agencies and other assistance.

We're a program, we're not an agency, so we don't have people to put on a task force, but we have a lot of partners that we can, you know, introduce each other with and try to form those relationships to help out any way we can.

I do want to mention that the ODMAP, and I'm going to introduce our drug intelligence officer and my treatment prevention manager is going to speak briefly about the overdose response strategy that we have in place, which is a nationwide program through the HIDA program.

And again, we're part of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

They fund us, but each HIDA works independently.

And again, ours is in Washington State.

And my director, Jonathan Wiener, is is very well aware of what's going on and happy to help in any way, shape, or form, intelligence-wise and through the Northwest Fentanyl OD Investigation Working Group, et cetera.

But the OD map is a really great tool, and because of Claudia and her tenacious pursuit of trying to do the right thing, was able to hook up with RDIO and get the city of Seattle, which I commend you on doing that.

It's remarkable.

We're very excited about that.

And it's a tool that everybody can use, that we can use, treatment prevention can use, and that hopefully your newly formed task force can use as well.

So I'd like to introduce Eliza Powell, our treatment prevention manager, just to give you a brief overview of the overdose response strategy and our team there that's available to assist any way we can.

Thank you, Matt.

I'd like to just briefly, very briefly reiterate just how essential it is that any effort that we put into addressing this crisis is involving multiple sectors.

This cross-sector collaboration is really at the core of what we do at Northwest Haida, at the core of our overdose response strategy team.

We know and you know that the drug and overdose issue is extremely complex and really having every bit of expertise, every bit of knowledge, every bit of experience that we can at the table is really the only way that we can address that complexity.

Like Matt mentioned, our overdose response strategy exists just exactly to do that, to facilitate those connections, whether that involves law enforcement, fire, EMS, prevention, treatment, harm reduction, whatever that might look like, housing.

It's absolutely essential that we have each of those entities involved in these programs.

And that's really what I want to hit on hard today.

Like Matt mentioned, we have our drug intelligence officer, Mike Miser, with us here today as part of our overdose response strategy team, which is a cross-sector team that exists to kind of navigate those relationships that has both law enforcement representation on it, as well as public health representation to be able to navigate those different languages, those different perspectives.

And that's not only important at Northwest Haida, but in anything that we work on in this city, any efforts that we make to involve the cross-sector relationships.

So thank you so much again for having us today.

Yeah, I'm Mike Meiser.

I'm the drug intelligence officer and a member of the overdose response strategy team here.

I'm partnered up with a public health analyst.

I'm a retired law enforcement officer or agent, and we have teams like this throughout the country.

And our main goal is to try to bridge the differences between law enforcement and public health and try to bring other organizations, including NGOs and public health and law enforcement, and try to put everybody on the same page.

And that's what we really, our main goal is to do.

And one of our main programs is to try to get ODMAP up and running throughout the state.

Awesome.

Well, again, my name is Aliyah.

I'm with Plymouth Housing.

And we are grateful for the opportunity to be here today and thank the committee for letting us be here and Claudia and I be for everybody at the table for just the great partnership on this project.

We hope at Plymouth to support the call for evaluating and innovating traditional treatment methods.

and increasing access and supportive housing environments.

To be successful in bringing substance use treatment to our community, we need multi-systemic solutions.

This audit echoes that housing is not enough for people to seek recovery.

There needs to be non-abstinence only recovery housing that has effectively sourced supports embedded.

Community investment means using peer services to build out programs and allow for those in recovery to use their skills for good.

A relationship between law enforcement and direct service providers that center safety and trauma-informed perspectives and interventions.

Throughout this case study and the development of Plymouth's internal behavioral health services, we have collaborated with our residents to identify barriers that they're experiencing when when starting recovery.

Barriers include needing productive ways to fill their time.

And so as our residents are reducing their substance use and are having more free time, they need outlets like community centers where there could be activities or some suggestions.

This is in alignment with the audit recommendations to activate vacant spaces and building capacity for community problem solving.

Interventions we are piloting at Plymouth are contingency management, which is an abstinence-based intervention, and we're adapting it to better fit the targeted population.

Like offering it in supportive housing rather than a traditional clinic method, this makes recovery more accessible and allows industry best practices to succeed.

From this pilot, we have started building out our peer services for our residents, including one-on-one support, recovery groups, further wellness and skill building that will be based out of our future community center.

Guided by principles of cultural competence and sustainability, we at Plymouth are working to implement substance use disorder interventions and recovery programming that reflects best practices and centers the person.

This, along with continued partnerships with local treatment providers and King County Public Health, we are working to bring low-barrier options to our residents who, until now, have had no options.

We hope to continue working with the mayor's office and are in alignment with City Councilmember Nelson's support of the recommendations legislatively.

I'm Mona Sherwald once again with the YWCA and I want to thank you once again for letting us speak and appreciative that we can be part of this solution.

I want to add a little bit of the human element of human service workers, social service workers who do this work and the people that we serve and then I'll turn it over to Anna who does the permanent.

I'm specifically talking about Angeline's Day Center, which is at Third Avenue, right in one of the hot spots.

It's the first homeless women's day center in the city of Seattle that started in the late 1980s.

And I had the honor to help to start that and do outreach on the streets for many years.

And we also have a 24-hour emergency housing program that's tied to that, emergency shelter.

I wanna speak a little bit about what people who do this work experience, because I think we talk about the people we serve, the business community, the residents, but we also have to look at the human element of us who do this work day in and day night.

And I can tell you that my staff daily are sometimes giving people Narcan on the streets, as they see people in the alleys, as they see people who are dying.

We have never seen this before.

Not like this.

I have been doing this work for a very, very long time and I have never seen what we see on our streets today.

It is devastating to our staff and the women that we serve who are actually victims and very vulnerable to what is out there on our streets.

So I really hope that we as a community can really keep that in mind, that there are people that are doing this work daily.

We work closely with the police.

We work closely with the fire department and our housing providers and our fellow social service workers who do this work day in and day at night.

And we at the Y are really happy to be part of this solution because ultimately this is what we need.

We need to collaboratively work together to solve this problem.

And I'll turn it over to Anna, my colleague.

Great.

Thank you, Mona.

I just wanted to highlight one of the ways that we are collaborating with other service providers at the YWCA.

So we're very excited to share about a new partnership that we've started with Recovery Cafe and We Care Clinics, who have offered transportation services for our residents of the YWCA Opportunity Place and Plymouth Housing, both located on Third Avenue, to the Recovery Cafe facility in Soto, where We Care also has a mobile clinic there.

And so residents can receive transportation support to get there.

They can spend the day there.

They have access to treatment services, groups, activities, healthcare, meals, all in a very beautiful community space.

At the YWCA, particularly in our permanent supportive housing programs, we're seeing residents come into our housing with a much higher level need than we have in the past, including around opioid and other substance use.

And we're seeing this increase.

as a barrier to their maintaining stable permanent housing.

And so our focus approach around meeting people, is it really around meeting people where they are and customizing supportive services around the needs of the individual.

So having this incredible resource that increases access to recovery supports is really important.

We're very excited to see the potential of this collaboration.

And we are also looking at activating our vacant space within our YWCA building.

So hopefully, through this work, we'll be able to move that forward as well.

Any closing remarks?

Well, thank you all very much.

I also want to shout out to former council president Deborah Juarez and also the mayor for calling for this audit.

I have to say, when I was, I don't usually get excited about paper and audits, but when I was reading this, throughout this, what got me really motivated were statements such as, the city has not yet applied a problem-solving framework to other places.

We're talking about Rainier Beach, but we need to apply a problem-solving framework and a place-based framework, et cetera.

That's on page nine.

While SPD is affiliated with Haida, the City of Seattle had not been working with the Overdose Response Strategy Group to engage on or engage them on an ongoing project.

And I understand that you did spur that.

On and on and on.

Before our audit, the City had not conducted joint analysis of crime and overdose data to identify places where these incidents are concentrated.

The city has not combined these data for a spatial analysis.

The city is missing opportunities to gather specific information about the circumstances of fatal overdoses at hot spots such as the exact location of fatal overdoses, in hallways, alleys, etc.

This type of specific information would be important for in-depth case reviews and could help inform prevention activities.

I think this is what you were talking about, which is the OMAP, which it appears to be it's a it's a program or a that where you can input data and overlap them and then figure out how to respond to specific places.

And on and on and on.

And I mentioned this not to cast blame on everybody, but it seems sometimes that these interrelated problems are so complex we can feel paralyzed.

And I want this audit to be a catalyst for moving beyond this thought that we don't have enough resources, be that officers or treatment centers or whatever.

We don't have enough resources to deal with these problems.

Two, We just need to take a targeted place-based and coordinated approach to spending our limited resources wisely and effectively.

And so that is what I really wanted to do is use this audit as a vehicle for executive council buy-in on this, on the mission to, use the federal resources that we've got here and also use the knowledge that has come from the contingency management pilot project, which has been successful and which has been completed.

Use that knowledge and then spread that to other permanent supportive housing facilities.

So I guess what I'm saying, I'm really glad to see, Natalie, that you are at the helm of this.

You have volunteered yourself for this work because we can't keep doing what we've been doing because it's clearly not working.

And so I just, I am optimistic and thank you very much for stepping up, all of you, to be part of this ongoing project because the people in this room and the people that are watching this meeting really do need to see that we're getting serious on this.

Colleagues, do you have any questions or comments?

Go ahead.

No, you go.

I didn't see who had their hand up first.

Go ahead, Soccer.

All right, all right.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

Thank you all for this terrific presentation and love the collaboration that's reflected here at this table.

And for me, and I, Council President, you don't like Paperwork.

Well, I actually do like paper.

I know you do.

I love it and I geek out about it.

Although your highlights and dog ears at a quick glance appear to be a little more thorough than mine.

But in any event, I do appreciate having the opportunity to read this report ahead of time and then learn more about it here in this session.

My main takeaway from all this is is that the city has an opportunity to better collaborate.

We have a great One Seattle vision and approach that allows us to work more effectively within the city and break down city silos and revolutionize how we operate from an intra-government or intra-city perspective.

Someone said it, I forgot who.

We don't have to reinvent the wheel, and we can rely heavily on the expertise of others, particularly our federal partners.

And so, yes, there is a strong opportunity for us to continue to collaborate and strengthen, develop new relationships, forge existing ones, and better work together to solve these shared challenges because there are important public health aspects of them, and also public safety aspects as well.

So they go hand in hand.

And so I really appreciate everything and this report.

A couple questions about the report.

I guess I'll start with So there's eight specific recommendations contained in the report, as I understand it.

Some of them are related.

But we are in a limited resource environment.

To thoughtfully implement these does take a little time.

and I'm sure most of them are specific call-outs for the executive, and even if the executive could snap its fingers, we just can't do it overnight.

How would you go about, how would you prioritize these eight listed recommendations in this report?

And I'll caveat that by saying, from my perspective, based off of my read of this report, And I guess combined with the conversation here at the table today, my personal preference, I think recommendation number two is the lowest hanging fruit.

Seems from my perspective to be potentially the most impactful.

So recommendation two is the mayor's office should lead the city in seeking federal technical assistance and funding to address places where overdoses and crime are concentrated.

But in any event, I'm curious to hear from the audit report author's perspective, how would you go about prioritizing?

Are they listed in order of priority, one through eight, or...?

Great question.

They were not listed in priority order, but I guess I would, I think that I would start by noting that recommendation three was implemented just a few moments ago when Natalie named herself as the project champion from the mayor's office.

So we can check that one off.

And a lot of these things, when we were crafting our audit, we were very aware of of the city's financial constraints.

And still there are many things that can be done here in these recommendations within existing resources.

Some of it is just the commitment that's required.

As you pointed out with recommendation number two, the commitment to seek federal technical assistance, and it's as easy as saying yes to the Northwest Haida team who offered it today.

Can I do that without, or does that have to be the executive?

Can I sign this up?

Yeah, we've given you the OD map, which is our, you know, our big flagship that we want.

And we're, again, this is really helping us that the city of Seattle adopted it.

It's helping us get other people on board too.

So it's having a ripple effect across the state.

We have certain initiatives.

We're mandated by federal law of, you know, who we can give funding to and assistance.

We can obviously connect you with these other folks, but it's...

We fund, actually, the initiatives.

We can provide intelligence.

We can provide technical assistance, training.

We can provide the Northwest Overdose Response training and work group.

And I think that is a really good first step, in just my opinion.

Yeah, thank you, Matt.

And I think now that we have the leadership named in the mayor's office with Natalie, that's a great connection there for making those things happen.

Another great connection that occurred related to recommendation number four, for example, is that we visited Snohomish County with some members of the mayor's office team.

to learn more about their multi-agency coordination system.

And they're also standing by to help us with lessons learned from what they've experienced with their multi-agency coordination system.

The mayor's office has already heard a little bit about it.

But that is something that our neighbors in Snohomish County have already been generous with and can continue to provide us support if Seattle chooses to adopt a coordination system similar to that in Snohomish County.

And recommendation five, that's a formalization of the partnership with Northwest Haida, which I think will also be able to be facilitated because of Natalie's presence.

Thank you.

Thank you for addressing specifically recommendation number five.

That was actually my next question.

So what is implementation of that formalizing the relationship look like?

Is that like...

You have to execute a contract of some sort?

That's the sort of thing I'm asking, yeah.

What's that?

Go on.

Oh, no, yeah.

How can the city best implement that with respect to formalizing an ongoing relationship with Northwest Haida?

Well, the primary relationship between the city and Northwest Haida, the overdose response system strategy group, has been with our office.

And we are not a line department.

We are the city auditor's office.

So for us to pass the torch to have the primary contact be in the mayor's office would be perfectly appropriate.

Got it.

Okay.

Thank you.

I will...

yield the floor to our colleague.

Thank you.

Thank you all for this presentation.

I had a couple questions.

The first one is, do we know why some of the activity is concentrated in certain locations?

I might have missed that in the report.

We're Broadway in Pike, Pine.

We have 12th in Jackson.

Third, just to speak very frank, third in Pine, downtown.

It's the worst I've ever seen.

And it's not just to our city.

I was just down at Skid Row in L.A., I've been going there about six, seven years.

It's the worst I've ever seen in my life down at Skid Row.

So I know that a lot of cities are really struggling with this.

Do we know why it's concentrated in these certain areas?

Mind you, I go past the drug dealers every day.

I see them.

They have guns on them.

you know, right outside.

They're open, caring, right there, hiding in the little crevices of the, I pass them every day.

So just wondering, like, you know, why in those areas do we see a lot of that?

Yeah, well, what you're saying is actually very consistent with the research, is that crime does concentrate in very specific areas, like an intersection or just a small cluster of blocks.

And it can concentrate there for decades.

So what is it about those specific places rather than the next intersection over, for example?

And that's really something that you can learn through the kind of diagnostic that we're recommending in the report.

It's almost as if you treat a place like a patient that is going into the doctor.

You can't just simply, if you're a doctor and someone comes to you, can't simply prescribe a treatment like Tylenol without doing a deep dive diagnostic.

And that is what occurs in this place-based problem-solving framework.

You need to triangulate data from multiple sources, so not just the crime data, because that only tells you what exists.

You have to look at the physical layout of the space.

That can be extremely helpful.

also talk to the businesses and the community members who have lived experience in those places.

And that's what the city did in Rainier Beach, with Rainier Beach, a beautiful, safe place for youth, was that deep dive diagnostic to understand why are these crimes concentrated here for such a long period of time.

And that is the work that's actually starting right now.

Last night, there was the first community training for Pho Dep, which means beautiful neighborhood in Vietnamese.

And it is the place-based problem-solving initiative.

at Little Saigon, and that was funded through some seed money, I believe it's $83,000 from the Seattle Police Foundation, and that's going to the Friends of Little Saigon to do that deep dive kind of diagnostic.

One of the things that we saw at the case study site was a very high vacancy rate.

It's in our audit report, 40% vacancy rate in the two blocks that we looked at compared to a much lower rate citywide.

So that is something that could be a contributing factor to why crime and overdoses are occurring at that particular location.

Got it.

And then the second question is, how do we partner with the Board of Health?

And during the recommendations, I didn't see like, you know, hey, we're going to partner with the Board of Health.

But does that, I know right now, when I see on the streets, I see a health crisis.

I see people in crisis.

They're in despair.

They need help.

And I know that we have relied heavily on our Board of Health to try to figure out, okay, how do we address these?

With the recommendations, do we see ourselves continuing to, you know, more investment in that?

Do we add on to our investment into the Board of Health with our Seattle approach as well?

I don't know how that could potentially play out.

Right, and that's another great question, and I think Council President Nelson sort of alluded to that with when you are looking at these places.

So overdose events, just like crime, are not spread like peanut butter across the city, but they're also highly concentrated.

So an efficient use of city resources would be also looking at the public health issues in the places where they are needed the most, and focusing our efforts, our diagnostic efforts, and even our funding in that targeted, hyper-focused, place-based way.

Understood.

And do we know how much we spend per person for treatment?

Like just a ballpark number, like just financially, how much we invest in this?

from the city of Seattle?

Correct.

Oh, I don't know.

That would be a question for the executive.

I don't know that I have that number per person, but I'm writing that down as a follow-up, Council Member Hollingsworth.

No worries.

I would also just, I mean, just comment to, just if I can comment to both of your questions.

I think the first, you know, since I've joined the mayor's office, I've been doing the review of what we did in Rainier Beach many years ago, but also with FODEP as well.

And I think it's really important.

Third Avenue is unique.

And I think that's what we're trying to say.

We can't apply the same place-based strategies that we're using, that we've used in Rainier Beach or you know, in faux depth to Third Avenue because of some of the things that have been listed in this report in terms of vacancies.

And I also think that, you know, the areas, and not to the exclusion of other, but six of the areas that are listed in this report are areas that we've been struggling with at least in my time, for at least over two decades.

Third and Pike, you know, Belltown.

That's why the residents that were speaking today are so frustrated because we've been through this, started the reduction, and come back, and it's even in more full force as well.

And I think one of the things to really think about here is, you know, the need for services in that area.

And I... And those services are necessary and needed.

But they are also well known in terms of, like you said, you and I both walk and take the bus by people who are dealing drugs on a daily basis.

And they do so with impunity and brazenness.

And so I think that's one of the other things to think about is how do we how do we work with this area to preserve and protect our social services and also disrupt what is going on and the allowability of that brazen behavior over and over and over again.

And so I think it's just important to note that we need to think about what is the best place-based strategy for the 10 areas that are listed here, not just downtown.

And then in terms of the amount of money we spend, I have specific big amounts.

Obviously, public health is a state and county responsibility.

And the mayor's office has stepped up to make significant investments.

I didn't go through all of the investments in terms of not just response to overdose, but treatment.

But We have to step up and bear the responsibility as well alongside our state and county partners who also have that.

specific responsibility.

No, that makes sense.

I was in a board of health meeting and I had mentioned, you know, about the port cities, Seattle, LA, San Francisco, Baltimore, New York, like that we're struggling obviously with the fentanyl crisis and made a comment.

It was like, Hey, how can we go after the people that are preying on vulnerable folks?

Like, you know, what, what does that look like?

Right.

The dealers and that's thing.

And, someone cut me off and immediately say, well, we're not trying to redo the war on drugs, Joy.

And I felt like, and it was a gentleman who did not look like me.

I lived through, I had family members who lived through the war on drugs.

And I think the definition of the war on drugs is very different what people are trying to implement right now.

And I felt like that was kind of used as a cover to be like, well, we're going to, you know, try this and try that when people are literally just dying every day.

And the reason why I'm so passionate about it, obviously, is because a lot of people look like me.

When I see on the street, a lot of people on Skid Row looked like me.

And just, you know, feel like sometimes we're experimenting with black bodies on our street, unfortunately.

and just want to see some type of movement to help save lives and protect our kids who are around us.

I get emails every day from people that are on the bus or someone at their school on the side, fentanyl getting in schools.

We haven't even talked about that.

And that is here in our schools, fentanyl in schools, through gummies and pills.

So anyways, I'm looking forward to this report being implemented and the recommendations with the mayor's office.

I know that the executive cares passionately about this and looking forward to working with you, Natalie, so we can address this and hopefully be a leader potentially on the West Coast to show people how we can do it right, save lives, and be able to get people help and treatment for our community.

So thank you.

I wanted to answer one of your questions, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

You asked how much are we spending.

I don't know how much.

The City of Seattle funds Seattle King County Public Health at $22 million.

annually.

And it is unclear to me where that money is going and whether or not it is going to the, is meeting the needs that were identified in the needs assessment that occur semi-regularly.

So we do need to dig into that.

I had, with your support at one of the Board of Health meetings, I did put forward an amendment to the work plan to include a response to the opioid crisis.

And that was added, but we've had two briefings on what's happening.

So I want to see action steps there.

So we do need to dig into how we can be stronger partners with the Board of Health and find out where our money is going and how we should deploy that.

To your question about why are these hot spots, I'll direct you to page four of the report that says, in a survey of 138 people at our case study site on Third Avenue, 74% of respondents indicated that people are using drugs multiple times per day, and 67% noticed people selling drugs multiple times a day.

And for some people, individuals seeking treatment, breaking the routine of acquiring and using drugs throughout the day has been a further challenge to their recovery.

And so I think that this is right inside and outside of the Plymouth housing site.

Page five does have the top ten or eight or so sites where there are most overdoses.

And on page five it notes that data from the King County Medical Examiner's Office indicates that ten of the 11 fatal overdoses occurred in or outside of the three permanent supportive housing buildings at this location.

And so we do have an indication, obviously, vulnerable people who are struggling with addiction obviously are at these sites.

And the question is, so in more recovery-based services was mentioned, I am troubled that out of a billion dollars, there is no recovery, there's no funding for recovery housing in the housing levy.

Because while we're talking about co-locating recovery-based services within low barrier facilities, That is one model.

Another model is to have recovery-based facilities.

And so I do think that we need to rethink that.

And there is evidence in this report that does support that approach.

So anyway, do you have other further questions or comments?

Yes, Madam Council President.

But I do note that our colleague, Council Member Rivera, also has a question.

Go ahead, Council Member Rivera.

We were having problems with the audio before.

So are you speaking?

Can you hear me?

Yes, I'm having a little bit of issue.

OK, I'll try to make it quick so I don't get cut off, but.

First of all, I just want to thank everyone that's part of this presentation.

I very much appreciate audits because they really give us an opportunity to know and review the things that we're doing well, and then areas of improvement.

So I very much appreciate this audit.

I did want to underscore, and I was going to raise Council President Nelson that I did know as part of this report, the piece about a lot of this activity occurring near permanent supportive housing and why that struck out to me was because we had a presentation yesterday from housing providers at our Housing and Human Services Committee.

And they expressed concern because they are dealing, sorry.

with populations that are, you know, experiencing recovery.

They're trying to recover.

And then these situations, you know, it doesn't help folks recover.

And so I'm really sensitive to making sure we're providing support to our folks who are, you know, at permanent supportive housing and other housing where they're trying to recover.

This activity doesn't help.

It's probably one of the reasons why the hotspots are occurring near permanent supportive housing.

They're preying on folks there.

And so I very much am interested in finding out what we can do more to address this particular concern.

Is there anybody that would like to speak to that?

Yeah, well, I can speak to, again, some of the needs that we at Plymouth have been you know, trying to address of obviously high rates of overdose and use in our buildings and in other permanent supportive housing providers that we have, you know, connected within the city, DESC and others.

But what you spoke to, I'm sorry, I don't know who was on the screen talking, but that it's not always the residents of the housing who are necessarily outside or things, but One, we know that folks who experience houselessness often build community.

And so when someone is housed, they still foster that community and want to help their neighbors.

And so we do see concentrations of people who are unhoused around permanent supportive housing buildings because that's where their peers now live.

And there's also a concentration of support services.

So like downtown in the case study site right next to our administrative building is the REACH Evergreen Treatment Services.

And so that's obviously next door, which is gonna increase traffic and things like that outside of our housing building.

There's some just geographical logistical reasons for that.

But also just what council member Nelson echoed of that recovery housing is underfunded and it's hard to find funding for this specific programming and treatment options and the barriers that come along with it.

And so the, The traditional treatment model is sending folks to inpatient or to MAT services into clinical settings.

And what we're finding with a lot of my projects, including contingency management, is that changing those treatment models and offering them in housing has been drastically different.

It creates an easier access so residents don't have to figure out how to get transportation or get to somewhere.

It's in-house.

It's there.

They can just go downstairs, meet with a nurse or, you know, have a peer come on site and meet with them one-on-one, things like that.

And also, you know, increasing funding for community resources and activating vacant spaces.

We're working with Claudia, obviously, and on the grant, the SAMHSA grant, and working internally at Plymouth to activate our vacant spaces, not just at Simon's, but within the case study and other vacant spaces at some of our other buildings across the city to create community centers.

So part of my job is building out our behavioral health center.

And so that's under construction right now, hopefully completed within the next year.

And that's where we want to house more recovery services specifically for our PSH, permanent supportive housing residents and help foster that collaboration across other organizations and providers, including YWCA and others in the case study site.

Thank you.

thank you i appreciate that i want to clarify i wasn't trying to i i very much am supportive of permanent supportive housing and i want to make sure that the folks that are recovering are getting the supports they need and that this crime and activity is not happening there because it just doesn't help people right so thank you so much for um for addressing um uh this particular need and i i get that we need more of it and i'm interested in just finding out how we can help support thank you

And I think there is a mention of the good neighbor policy in here.

Would you like to speak to that?

There is a good neighbor policy in there, and I think, and thank you, Council President, for pointing that out.

I think that's one of the things in the audit that was pointed out to make sure that the good neighbor agreement is being followed, and that's something that I will be looking into.

I think we have a lot of contracts with providers and making sure that the good neighbor agreement, which is really what we've asked our residents around some of the contracted providers, we've said, hey, we're going to have our providers abide by this good neighbor agreement and making sure that that's actually happening.

Got it.

Regarding funding for activating spaces, Claudia, you did have an idea about potential FIFA funding.

I don't know if that is something that can be, when that might be available, or if that is something that we can deploy for the request for the YWCA activation of that space, but we should be pursuing all sources of funding external, I think would be a good idea as well.

So are there any other comments?

Yes, go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

First off, let me say thank you to our colleague, Council Member Hollingsworth.

Really do appreciate your comments towards the tail end of the dialogue a few moments ago.

I share the sentiment and concern that you express, and for me, I just want to say thank you.

It's very clear to me you care deeply about these issues, coming from a place of firsthand, personal, lived experiences, and that's why representation matters, and we don't need saviors, and that's why I'm glad to be able to serve alongside you as we tackle these issues together.

and let this be a call.

Is this thing on?

Let this be a call to action.

It's time to do the work.

We need to talk, and that's what's clear from this.

We need to talk to collaborate.

But members of the public, rightfully so, they're tired of just talking alone.

But we can't take action unless we, a precondition to action, yes, let us take stronger action, but a precondition to that is talking, and we need to do more of that.

and having these conversations and figuring out how we can best, most effectively, efficiently work together and treat these issues with the urgency and importance that they deserve.

So I have two more questions.

One is, So the report talks about, as Council President mentioned a moment ago, on changing the physical environment, better activating spaces, and that is a generally known, as I understand it, best practice.

It's true in a lot of contexts, whether you're activating storefronts, spaces within buildings, public right-of-ways, sidewalks.

And so here's what I want to ask you, and I...

I don't, this is just, if you have any initial thoughts, great, but my sense is we'll have to have more focused conversations with others not seated at this table who are probably better positioned to answer than you all, but very technical, specific question, but any best practices on how we can specifically best activate our sidewalks in public right-of-ways?

sidewalks and public right-of-ways.

How can we, and again, if you don't have any, like, totally understood, I'll have to have some follow-up conversations with our experts at SDOT, amongst other things, but how can we best change the physical environment and activate sidewalks?

Well, Natalie mentioned, and this is true, there was a crime prevention through environmental...

CEPTED, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.

There we go.

Assessment that was performed for our case study site.

And Natalie also mentioned that there was one performed for 12th and Jackson too.

And it lists very specific, tangible things that can be done to improve conditions on the site, including sidewalks and right of way, including things like making sure that there are sight lines.

And there are in those CPTED assessments also some recommendations around creating clear territorial demarcation so that you have visual cues about how the space should be best used.

These CPTED reports, and they are done by Seattle Police Department.

We have a great resource there in the West Precinct, Barb Biondo.

She does an amazing job of producing these very detailed reports that speak to some of the things that you have mentioned, Councilmember, and also we have great staff in SDOT who know a lot about place making and about activation of sidewalks.

We also have great experience staff in our parks department who know about place making and activating spaces.

And it's a really great point that you bring up because this is the kind of whole of government approach that we need to these places.

Existing city resources, we have great expertise in SPD, whether it's their SEPTED expertise or in transportation and parks on their placemaking.

So when one of these areas where overdoses and crime are concentrated, calls for some sort of place activation, it would be wonderful if we deployed some of our great city expertise to these sites.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

And the Crime Prevention to Environmental Design report that Claudia just made mention is included in our report is Appendix F. That was completed by , so if you want to take a look at that.

Right.

Well, it is getting late, so I think that we should wrap up so folks can get home.

I will just say that speaking for myself as a council member, provide a platform to talk about these ideas.

We can pass laws.

We pass budgets.

We fund things.

But we're not the boss of SDOT.

We're not the boss of SPD.

We don't implement.

And so that is...

That is something that is often frustrating because constituents come to us and they say, why hasn't anything changed?

And so we do have a to-do list here, participate in the Northwest Overdose Working Group and a lot of other to-dos that were mentioned here and going forward.

We have a partner now in Natalie, I'm sorry, what would, doctor, anyway, Dr. Director of Public Safety within the Mayor's Office.

I'm sorry that I'm not using your correct title.

It's always Natalie.

Okay.

It's always Natalie.

The point is let's get together afterwards and really talk about a timeline for implementation and best going forward because the auditors might get frustrated with all the audits that you produce and all the recommendations and many of them go unimplemented.

So let that stop now and let's go forward with urgency on these issues.

Thank you very much for coming and producing this report, and more to come.

Thank you.

And with that, if there is no further business to come before us here today, it is July 11th, and the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee will come to a close.

It's 416. Thank you very much, everybody.