Thank you for joining us this evening.
I'm Tammy Morales.
I am the new Seattle City Council member representing District 2. I want to thank everybody for joining us this evening.
And I really want to thank Marcus Harrison Green with the Seattle Emerald.
Thank you, Marcus, for being with us tonight.
He and I are really just going to have a conversation about what's going on at City Council.
And then we will open it up to questions from the audience.
Before I get started, I just want to remind people, because I am a freshman council member, a little bit about who I am, where I came from.
Before running for city council, I was a community organizer with Rainier Beach Action Coalition, where we did a lot of work, particularly around equitable development and around food security.
The work that we do in the community is about making sure that we are providing resources to community and really trying to support community-led and community-driven development so that we can have the kind of services and housing and access to good jobs that we want to see here and that it's really driven by the priorities identified by the community.
So that's a little bit about who I am and where I came from.
I'm happy to answer more questions from all of you later.
But I do want to thank Marcus again for being here.
I'm looking forward to our conversation.
If you don't know, and I don't know who can't know, that Marcus is the founder of the South Seattle Emerald, a really important community treasure and resource for all of us.
who wanna see the beauty and the ingenuity and the brilliance of our community reflected in the media.
That doesn't often happen in some of the mainstream media here in Seattle.
So it's part of why I am a rainmaker and a sustainable supporter of the South Seattle Emerald, and I'm really happy to be joined by Marcus.
So I'll stop talking for a minute and hand it over to you.
I have to say, Tammy, if this city council thing You know, it doesn't work out a few years from now, you would make a great hype person, you know, for somebody.
But anyhow, such a pleasure to join you tonight.
Obviously, there's quite a bit going on.
And, you know, we do want to thank people who have joined us online and via the various live streams.
And so, Tammy, I guess we'll get right into it.
I know that today is actually designed to have a conversation focused on the city budget, and the budget is, as many people say, a living document of the priorities of a city and how it treats its citizens, including its most vulnerable.
And so I actually just kind of want to start off with what is, I would say, the elephant in the city, but it's more of a, I guess it's a Tyrannosaurus Rex in terms of its size with obviously several people online and in the blogosphere, as well as on social media, which we know precisely mimics real life.
Several people have talked about your support, obviously, for defunding the Seattle Police Department.
You wrote an op-ed in our publication, The Emerald, that was posted last Tuesday, I want to say, about that support.
And obviously, there's been a lot of conjecture around that and some misinformation and so forth.
And so I want to start off by asking you to one because you sort of explain your stance and then also explain the approach that you're taking with it as it relates to the city budget.
Sure, thank you.
So yeah, we've received lots of questions about this.
And I know it's not just Southeast Seattle, it's the whole city who's interested in this topic.
So what I will say is, as Marcus mentioned, I did write an op-ed last week making really clear my position, which is that I do think that we invest way too much of our public resources in the police department.
The police department budget is $400 million a year, whereas the departments, four departments, neighborhoods, housing, I'm going to not remember the economic development and planning, All four departments combined are, I think, $185 million.
So to me, that really reflects a value system that is really out of whack, because at the same time that we're talking about the challenges we have with youth violence, with poor food security, with a lack of housing, we are completely under-investing in the ways that could actually address some of those challenges and that could improve, dramatically improve, the community conditions that lead to the problems we're trying to solve with our over-investment in police.
So I do think that we need to shift priorities and shift the resources and assets that we have as a community into actually serving people.
Now, that's not to say that we're going to do this willy-nilly.
I know there is a lot of fear about this slogan, defund the police.
And I will say, I don't find that a particularly helpful tagline for what we are trying to do.
What we are trying to do is shift resources and shift the functions, some of the functions of the police department.
It's going to take a while for us to figure out what this means.
We are we are working closely with decriminalize Seattle and with King County equity now to try to understand what they mean.
And they are also not advocating for random cutting of the department.
There's a there's a plan.
There's a four point plan actually, and a timeline of community engagement, research, talking to other cities and other communities about what they've done to shift the way their police departments work.
And so we are engaging in a very deliberate and very intentional conversation about how to restructure what it would look like and how to shift resources, particularly from things like responding to homelessness, responding to substance abuse or mental health problems, problems that don't require responding, sending an armed officer.
Those are things we should be sending social workers and outreach workers and case managers to do.
And so that is the conversation that we're having.
We don't have plan to make any of those changes quickly because we know that it needs to involve the community and we need to have a good understanding of what that means.
So the last thing I'll say about this is that work we are hoping to begin this fall and so that we can start making some decisions about what the 2021 budget might look like.
But it is research and community engagement that will probably take several months.
Right, I think these are, oh, sorry to interrupt you.
Well, the last thing I'll say is that conversation is different from the very real conversation we are having about 2020, because we have a $300 million hole in our city budget for the remainder of this year.
And those are the conversations that we're having right now, trying to figure out how we're going to plug that hole.
But it is a slightly different question than the question of restructuring the department.
And I think that's a great starting point, as I'm sure many people will have follow-up questions.
But I did want to orient folks to where we are now with the budget, because many people on this call are, excuse me, on this live stream, I'm sure know that in 2019, I know you were not there, but our city council did pass what was then a record-breaking budget of 6.5 billion.
We are now at a time period where we are needing to rebalance the 2020 budget.
And so can you just sort of, you know, and obviously the, a lot of that is because of the issues we are facing now with this pandemic we have, but can you just orient some folks who may not know why, where that $300 million dollar hole has come from and how you're going about filling it?
Sure.
So, so In the city of Seattle and really across the state of Washington, we are heavily reliant on sales tax and property tax to fund, and B&O tax, to fund city services.
That's just how we pay for local government.
And that is in large part because of our state constitution that prohibits us from doing things like progressive statewide revenue or a statewide income tax.
And so those are conversations at the state level that need to happen.
But what it means is that at the local level, we are left with very few options for how we raise money to fund parks and roads and buses and transit and housing programs.
And, and so when COVID hit, um, and we had to shut down businesses and we all were staying home, uh, which we need to continue to do to keep one another safe from coronavirus.
Um, but, but the impact of that is that we stopped spending money.
We stopped going out to eat, buying, you know, things, goods and services.
And so consequently our sales tax revenue really plummeted.
And so we are now facing a $300 million hole in our city budget for the remainder of the year.
And so normally the city's budget process begins in the fall and it's planning for the next two years.
Right now, what we've been doing for the last seven weeks is having a conversation a budget conversation about how to fill that $300 million gap for the rest of this year.
And when you say we, that's the budget select committee that you are on, correct?
Yeah.
So the entire council serves as the budget committee, but it is a select budget, a select committee of the whole to deal with this budget rebalance.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
And so, I mean, as lifelong and proud South Seattle resident, obviously.
And you obviously have lived here for quite some time as well.
You know that small business is really the lifeblood of our hyperlocal economy, whether it is a place like the Station Coffee House in Beacon Hill, or Island Soul in Columbia City, our Queen Care products, our Jews in Rainier Beach.
So obviously this is a time where businesses are faced with quite a daunting challenge, especially in those which are restaurants.
Some are deciding to go ahead and open at 50% capacity.
Others do not feel that they are, that it's safe to do that quite yet.
And yet it's left not only them, but many of their employees reeling.
And so how, as you negotiate around this budget, how can folks be, small business owners, make sure, how can they be ensured, I guess, that sort of their interests are being considered as well?
Sure.
Well, thank you.
I mean, this is a hard question, right, because the city itself is restricted on how much it can support in any individual business.
And this is part of the challenge, right?
Like I came from Texas, I worked in the Texas legislature and so on the appropriations committee there.
So I understand how we should be receiving information about what our budget looks like.
And I will tell you as a freshman, this is my first time going through the budget process.
It's really, frigging confusing.
We don't have a lot of clear information being shared through the executive branch.
And that's who we really rely on to try to understand where our money is coming from and where it's going.
So trying to figure out how we can support small business is part of that, because we are getting some federal funds.
And with the federal money, we can do granting to businesses.
So our Office of Economic Development has been able to provide $10,000 grants basically through the Small Business Stabilization Fund using federal money.
We can't use any local money for that.
And so that is one way that OED has been trying to provide support.
There's not nearly enough of that money.
It went really fast.
And as a council, we are trying to find additional ways to provide that kind of support as we continue to receive COVID relief money, which we just passed the jumpstart legislation.
Folks might have heard about progressive revenue.
Part of that package does include some assistance for small businesses.
The other thing that we've done is to try to assist small business tenants So we do have, earlier in the year, we passed protection for commercial tenants so that they also had an eviction moratorium so they couldn't be kicked out due to COVID and have some protections in that way.
Now, the governor, I know just today, extended the eviction moratorium for tenants, for residential tenants through the end of October, which is great.
What we're really pushing for is for that to happen for commercial tenants as well, because I'm talking with folks today in our district whose landlords want to sell the property and, you know, they're at risk of getting pushed out.
So my fear is that this is really going to sort of grease the wheels for disaster gentrification to happen.
And we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to put some protections in place.
And the commercial eviction moratorium is one tool for us to be able to do that.
Right.
That being said, because I know we have, when I've interviewed you in the past, we've talked about disaster, our pandemic gentrification, you know, pick your poison, I suppose, with that.
And one of the things you certainly have brought up is wanting to make sure that the sort of character, our integrity, of Seattle, specifically Southeast Seattle, where you are a council member, a representative, I should say, stays the same and that people can continue to afford to live here.
That being said, I mean, we obviously don't know the extent of how long this pandemic will last.
And so is, how are you sort of being able to sort of, switch into a rapid response mode, if you will, when, as we know, the budget process and political process in Seattle is not necessarily always conducive to expediency.
Yeah.
So I'm not going to lie.
It's been a hard first six months.
Talk about on-the-job training, right?
We came into this in January.
Two months later, COVID hit and we had to reset and figure out how to support.
Months after that, we had the George Floyd uprising and rebellion and all of the nexus and intersection of these crises is really, it's really telling, right?
We've got the financial crisis, the public health crisis, the impact on small business, on communities, on families.
And then we have the reckoning with the racial inequality, the history of racial inequality and oppression in this country.
And all of those things are happening at the same time.
I will say it is, on the one hand, exhausting.
And, you know, my staff and all the City Council staff and our policy shop, everybody is working really hard to try to be innovative, to try to make sure we understand what federal money and federal relief is coming and how quickly we could get it out the door.
At the same time, I really see this as an opportunity.
I hate to hate to think that way in this moment.
But it is a chance for us to reset.
Because what we've learned in COVID is that this shouldn't be news to anybody, but but it's really brought into relief.
The fact that the systems of oppression, the layers of oppression in our in our country have devastating impacts on communities of color, on black and brown communities, and they're suffering the most and suffering the hardest and the longest because, and the soonest, right?
It's the essential workers, low-wage workers, people who are renters instead of homeowners.
These are the people who are impacted the quickest and the hardest.
And so what, What our office is really prioritizing is how to make sure that we're doing all we can to protect against gentrification, that things don't get flipped, commercial properties and houses don't get flipped, that we're able to support people in staying, and that we're really making sure that the policies, the decision-making is centered on racial equity.
whether we're talking about the budget and what programs get cut, making sure that city workers, particularly black and brown city workers, don't suffer most from any layoffs that have to happen, how we make sure that we are contributing to building generational wealth, So these are the kind of values and principles that our office is bringing, and we are trying to implement that by working with community-based organizations, working with our local businesses, like participating in the Southeast Economic Business Roundtable to figure out how our local businesses need support, working with Africatown and doing a lot of work with council members at King County to figure out how we can work together to put measures in place that transfer public surplus property, for example, to community so that community can own property for housing, for the Youth Achievement Center, for the Rainier Valley Food Bank.
That's not going to be public property, but we are trying to make sure that we are shifting resources to community so that community priorities can can move to reality.
And how can people continue to sort of register their thoughts and opinions and input on their priorities when it comes to things like that?
I mean, I will say our inboxes are flooded.
So if I haven't responded to your email, I apologize.
But we are literally getting thousands and thousands of emails a day.
and hundreds of phone calls a day.
So I apologize if we are slow in responding to people, but- Yeah, I had to agree to moderate this just to be able to speak with you.
I know that you're so backed up, so I understand.
But call, email, when we are finally able to get back to City Hall, we always welcome people to come in.
We are also starting again, we had to stop during the budget process, but every Friday we do have community conversations.
So you can schedule time to meet with me one-on-one and have a conversation about the issues that you need us to know about.
And that is how we're hearing about, you know, projects like the Rainier Valley Food Bank, like the, well, I was part of, Rainier Beach Action Coalition, but we're able to get funding to these really important community projects that will be providing valuable service and assets in the community.
And that is because of the advocacy that is coming directly from our neighbors.
And I know that I forgot to note, before I move on to the next question, that even though you are from San Antonio, Texas, yes, you are a Spurs fan, but you are a tried and true storm fan.
So I didn't, you know, hopefully that'll quill some folks there with the ire.
Anyhow.
We do have season tickets to the storm, but I'm sorry to say we just can't do that right now.
Yes.
But good luck to them in the bubble, obviously.
That being said, I know one of the things that you ran on as a candidate and have continued to support as a city council member is food equity in the area and even prior to this current COVID pandemic, we didn't have the best, most consistent options, shall we say, for healthy, nutritious food for all of the residents of Southeast Seattle.
Now, I know that there have been obviously some sort of community-led things that have gone on when it comes to food stands and that, and that type of deal.
There's also obviously RBAC recently got a huge victory with, you know, 2.1 million to begin purchase of their Food Innovation Center.
And I know you were there through some of that process as a private citizen.
But how can, with so many citizens, so many residents of the area who do, you know, sort of face food insecurity, How is the city being able to support them, you know, from the budget and just continue to support them, you know, depending on how long this continues to last here?
Yeah, that's a great question.
So, we do have some funding available.
So we have an emergency grocery voucher program that we were able to roll out really quickly when COVID first hit.
And that was some federal money.
We're also working on, honestly, just private fundraising, trying to get another, I believe we're trying to raise another $15 million for additional grocery vouchers that can go out to low-income residents.
The initial round was just automatically sent to folks who qualify or participate in the utility discount program or who qualify or participate in uh, the fresh bucks program.
So that, that first round, uh, two rounds, I think of funding just automatically went out.
Now I, I have heard from some constituents that they applied for that funding, um, and were denied.
So we are looking into that to see, um, if that was simply an issue of having run out of money, um, or if there was some other reason why, um, why they didn't get access.
But, um, Programs like that are going to be critical to making sure that people get access.
I will say that programs like food stamps, like WIC, are not programs that are run by the city, but it's really important that if you think you might qualify that you sign up.
A lot of times people are eligible for these sorts of entitlement programs.
but they don't realize it or they think that it's really not, it's for somebody else.
I will say in times like this, if you think you might be eligible, please, you know, just get signed up because it's an important resource for families.
We do have the Rainier Valley Food Bank and other food banks in the area where emergency food assistance is available.
The Rainier Valley Food Bank is pretty tight right now, just in terms of their ability to deliver.
They are not receiving, you know, they're trying to set it up as a grocery store, but due to COVID, they have shifted their operations to do grocery delivery instead.
And they are doing school backpacks.
So for children who wouldn't have participated in that program during the school year, that program has actually expanded quite a bit, I just got some more information from them, making a 46% increase in students who are receiving groceries for their families through their backpack program.
And their demand has increased, well, it's increased substantially.
So there are some programs available.
I would say if you're struggling, Or if you know somebody who is struggling to be able to access food, either the food programs or just need some help, please let our office know and we will do everything we can to make sure that we're connecting you with the right resource.
All right.
Well, turning real quickly, I know that you are a proud mother of three.
And just this week, a couple of days ago, the superintendent of public school said that it was most likely that classes will be online when it comes to the fall.
So now knowing that there is a digital divide still in our city, and there are people who don't necessarily have, well, one, clear, clean access to broadband and so forth, how do you think that the city can support those folks?
And the caveat obviously is that the school district, Seattle Public Schools is a separate entity, from the Seattle Council and isn't under its direct control.
However, obviously that doesn't stop the city council from providing support where needed to its residents.
Yeah.
No, that's a really important question for the families in our district.
So you're right.
Just to be clear, the Seattle City Council doesn't have jurisdiction over the school district.
That is the school board.
But we are in pretty regular conversation We've been talking with Brandon Hersey, our school board director.
We've had conversations with the teachers union and really trying to understand from some of the vice principals and educators here in our community what to expect.
We are talking also with the digital equity team at the Seattle IT in our IT department and with our partners in King County, because what we are hoping to be able to do is make sure that every student has access to free internet and to the hardware and software that they need.
You know, like you said, I've got three kids.
I have a fifth grader and an eighth grader.
It's been really, it's been hard.
I mean, I'm busy.
I'm sitting here doing this all day.
I don't have time.
to supervise my children's education.
And honestly, I am not an educator.
Like, I don't know how to do that.
I have huge respect for educators, but that is not my lane at all.
So, and I'm, you know, at least now have the privilege of being able to stay home, but we are really worried about what this means for our families and for their ability to have basic things like access to internet and the hardware and software that they need.
So we are working on that.
School starts on September 2nd, and we know that the school board and the educator unions are still trying to figure out what that plan will be for how our young people will get the access to education that they need.
My understanding is that the plans should be available by the end of the month.
But our priority is really going to be to make sure that we're holding the school board accountable for getting every student the devices that they need to make sure that they have coupons for hotspots if we can't get the kind of internet access that people need.
And really, I think the question we all need to be asking is what the consistency is gonna look like because from school to, from district to district, even from school to school, we know that resources are really different depending on what part of town you live in.
And we need to, again, make sure that equity is at the center of all the decisions that are made.
So I don't have all the answers, but I do want folks to know that we are in communication with the school board.
with the unions and with the schools in our district to try to make sure that we are mobilizing all the resources we can so that our young people are ready in the fall.
And do you feel pretty hopeful about the collaboration that has taken place so far between the district and union and council?
Yes.
Cautious, yes.
I will admit I've been really frustrated that this all hit us really quickly in March.
And so I certainly am willing to grant a tremendous amount of grace to the school board and to the district for how they responded quickly in the first couple of months.
But we're in the middle of summer now, and it's been pretty clear for a while that The question of whether we would be able to be comfortable sending our kids back to school buildings, I think that's been very questionable for a while.
And so I would have expected a more solid plan by now.
Understood.
Well, shifting on to a crisis is that some people have said that we have forgotten about, but has never left.
There was recently, King County did a point in time count of those who are experiencing homelessness in our locality.
And the results weren't great, as you know.
Now, this has been something that obviously predates your time on council by quite a bit.
But obviously, money in our budget continues to attempt to house folks and find a solution to this crisis we have of those who are experiencing homelessness.
How can we continue to address that even as we have this budget hole?
Sure.
Well, you're right.
This is the longest running crisis we have.
In the city, we've had a state of emergency, declared a state of emergency five or six years ago now.
I am proud to say that my office has been in you know, detailed and ongoing conversation and collaboration with service providers, with advocates and organizers since, well, since before we got into office, but especially since getting into office so that we can make sure our unsheltered neighbors have the support that they need.
We have to continue fighting, especially now in COVID, or non-congregate shelter, which is honestly where a lot of our energy has been going the last few months.
We didn't have enough shelter space before COVID.
And now that people have to physically distance in order to be safe, we're really in a crisis.
So a lot of the energy coming from our office and from other council members has been around trying to fund more tiny house villages, trying to fund hotels.
That's why I am co-sponsoring some of the budget legislation that would allow us to immediately shelter folks in tiny house villages.
We have funding to allow for five new villages across the city.
We're doing that through the jumpstart legislation that I mentioned earlier.
And then through the regular budget process, we're also talking about how we provide funding for hotels, for dorms, for enhanced shelters, for any other options that we have that can really move people into space, get them off the street, get people into more stable living conditions, but do it in a way that also protects their health.
And again, I will say that part of the frustration is that we had set aside, I'm gonna lose track of the numbers, but I'm gonna say $10 million, I won't give you a number, millions of dollars for hotels and for tiny house villages.
And the council only has so much authority, right?
So the council can, draft the budget, can put parameters and draft resolutions that indicate our intent for how city money should be spent.
We cannot make the executive branch actually spend that money.
And so that is honestly part of the challenge that we're having right now is that we put aside money for hotels and for tiny house villages so that we can help get people off the street.
And to date, the mayor has been unwilling to spend that money in that way.
And so, you know, there is a tension there.
And we will continue to advocate for that, because especially in COVID, I think it's really important that people not just be sent to a congregate shelter, which if anybody's been inside them, they might offer bunk beds or, you know, a place to sleep, but you are right on top of each other.
And in this particular moment, that is not a safe place for people to be.
Yeah.
Have you been given an explanation from the mayor's office as to why that money hasn't been allocated in the way that it was intended to be?
You know, I think it is perhaps a philosophical difference.
You know, From my perspective, from the perspective of the advocates who do this work, tiny house villages, I will say I've been to several sweeps, several encampment removals, and the thing that people always ask for is a tiny house village to go to, because Like any of us, I'm assuming, you want a place to sleep where you can shut the door and lay your head and not worry about the elements or somebody coming to bother you.
So that is what people want most.
In conversations I've had with the mayor, there is either a lack of willingness to accept that as somebody's real preference, or just a unwillingness to acknowledge that these are stable options, perhaps an interim option, certainly not a final answer to how we solve homelessness.
But it is an interim measure that people really want that could help move them off the street and that could put them in a stable situation until the more permanent affordable housing is available.
You know, I don't think anybody's advocating that this is the solution to homelessness, but until we have enough housing to help move people into, I think it's the next best thing and I think we should be pushing for it.
Got it.
Now, before we jump into some of our questions that we've sourced from the community, I did want to ask you about Jump Start Seattle.
Obviously, you mentioned it and brought it up a few different times.
You know, that was recently passed, and I know you have been supportive of it and bills just like it in the past.
I wanted to ask, well, one, why did you, why were you supportive?
And then two, why do you think that this was able, this legislation was able to be successful um, this go around versus, you know, I want to say a year or two ago when they had a similar, um, legislation that was, you know, then known as the quote unquote head tax that was later repealed, uh, by the city council members at that time.
So, yeah, so the jumpstart legislation, um, well, you may recall that, um, earlier in the year, Council Member Sawant introduced legislation that was a progressive revenue.
So it was a payroll tax on the largest corporations in the city.
I signed on to that bill, I think it was in February.
And so we had been advocating for that.
It was a substantial, would have generated a substantial amount of revenue.
And this is, as you said, Mark, it's not my first time supporting something like this in 20, 17, we passed, I helped organize with the Trump Proof Seattle group to pass a citywide income tax.
Then we had the employee hours tax.
And, you know, when we began this town hall this evening, I was talking about how reliant Seattle is on sales tax and property tax.
Those are taxes that come out of our individual households, right?
You and I pay that every time we buy something.
If we are homeowners, we pay taxes on that.
If you're renters, your landlord pays taxes on their property and very likely passes that on to you as well.
So every time we need to buy something for local government, we have to go to a levy We have to increase sales tax.
We have to increase property tax.
And it is a really regressive and very inequitable way to finance public services.
And so, I think that asking our largest corporations to contribute is a way to reduce some of that regressivity, which is why I was supporting this legislation.
The bill, So the tax package that Council Member Sawant and I were working on was introduced, and then Council Member Mosqueda introduced a package that she called Jump Start Seattle.
And I think it was, well, I know it was a much smaller package.
It is levied on a smaller percentage of payroll that corporations have.
And so, and I will say she did an incredible job organizing and getting support from across different sectors of the community.
So that's one reason why it passed.
But I have to say, I really think that the political environment has changed dramatically from when we first started having these conversations a few years ago.
And I think that, you know, as we were saying before, because of COVID, because of the dire financial situation that so many people are in, because of the real understanding, finally, I think real understanding of how some communities have been under-resourced and under-invested in for generations, and what that means for public health, for education, educational attainment, just for our general well-being as a community.
I think there was more willingness to push for it this time.
And the council members certainly felt much less worried about the impact or about the repercussions of passing a bill than they seem to have been a few years ago.
So I'm really excited that we've passed it.
I think it's gonna provide you know, two, $300 million a year for us to do things like provide housing.
We've got $20 million for the Equitable Development Initiative, which will invest in our communities of color.
We got $20 million for Green New Deal investments, which will support climate justice goals and a transition into, you know, more green building and help us move away from a reliance on fossil fuels.
So, I'm looking forward to what we'll be able to do with that money.
All right.
Well, thank you, Council Member Morales.
We are going to now shift real quickly into the questions that were sourced from residents of Seattle.
All right, good.
So I will start with, looks like this is from Darnell is the name, says, Why haven't you demanded that the mayor resigned our be impeached?
Will you call for and will you call for investigation into SPOG president Mike Salon and other officers who have potentially voted fraudulently with their precinct address?
Okay, so I did, along with a couple other council members suggest that perhaps the mayor was not providing the kind of leadership that this city needs right now.
You know, I think especially in late May, early June, as the protests were happening downtown, I was there May 31st, I think that Saturday night when things really went sideways.
And it was very interesting to me how quickly the police department responded with force.
And I will just say that I don't think that sending armed officers with tear gas and bullets in riot gear, you know, armed to the teeth to respond to nonviolent protesters who were demonstrating their First Amendment rights is the appropriate response.
you know, I understand that things got really out of hand over time, but in that first couple of weeks, the response was really out of proportion to what was happening on the ground.
And so I did say that I thought the mayor should consider resigning because, you know, between her and Chief Best, I just think that their response and their lack of willingness to accept responsibility for what their police department was doing made me and lots of other folks question that.
I will say that recently several legislative organizations, what am I trying to say?
Political organizations across the city have called on the mayor to resign.
I did just see a letter from the Women's Political Caucus that is also questioning her leadership.
You know, there are many efforts going on, and I think that on the one hand, I do think that the leadership we are seeing is not the leadership we need.
And we have so much work to do as a council right now to try to make sure that we are getting resources to the community and really trying to fill this budget hole that I don't, at this moment, think that we should distract ourselves with what many people are calling for, which is an impeachment process.
I just don't think that we have the, I just don't think that's something that it's time to do yet.
Okay.
Unfortunately, we've obviously had some recent tragedy locally with some shootings that took place in the city, and specifically in the central district.
And then a couple of months ago, there was some gun violence that took the life of some young men in the South Seattle area.
And afterwards, there was a March for Life that was conducted by some local community groups.
And so the question is about addressing gun violence and how we do that.
You know, there are, you know, there have been reports, well, hey, that shows that we actually need to, I shouldn't say reports, there have been people who have said that, well, gun violence that shows that we need, you know, actually more police and we should give more money to them.
Can you address that question?
Yeah, you know, in my mind, it goes back to what we were talking about earlier, which is that we are not going to address the issue of gun violence, of youth violence in the city by arresting people faster.
That might answer a question immediately, but what we really need to do is look at the community conditions that people are living in.
if we provide opportunity for high quality education and food security and good jobs for parents and housing that is affordable, that people can stay in, if we stabilize our communities, that's how we start to address some of these problems.
So, you know, I know that that's not what a lot of people want to hear.
I do think that we have to take you know, many steps back and look at how we can prevent some of the things that we are dealing with.
And that is, you know, the point of view, the worldview that I come from, which is just that I think we have to invest in our communities so that we can create thriving neighborhoods where people have hope, where people have opportunity and have the ability to to choose better paths, to choose different things for themselves and for their families.
I understand that we need to get guns off the street.
We need to address gun violence, but we do that by investing in restorative justice programs, by investing in alternatives to incarceration, which doesn't provide any sort of rehabilitation.
So I really think that for those folks who are engaged in those activities, we need to find ways to connect them to violence interruption programs, to mentors, to job training, to the kind of alternatives that can really help turn their lives around so that they have better alternatives.
And I'm assuming that is one of the reasons for the deliberative process that that some members of the city council are going through with their defunding effort?
Right, I mean, you know, just yesterday, Dow Constantine announced that he was closing the youth jail.
The youth jail that people have spent eight years fighting against, I think, you know, and we've spent $200 million building, and now that it's finally built, the answer is, oh, right, maybe we shouldn't have done that.
That's money that could have been invested in our communities, could have been invested in alternative dispute resolution programs, in restorative justice programs, in creative justice.
You know, these are the ways that we support our neighbors when they're hurting.
You know, and those sorts of preventative measures bear so much fruit down the road, so much so much richer opportunities for people if we would invest in them while they're young, instead of investing and incarcerating them when they've entered into the system.
Got it.
Now, this comes from Twitter.
I'm not going to pretend to murder this person's name, so I won't say it.
But it says, what are your feelings about putting aside some money for the West Seattle Bridge?
That is an all-around bad situation.
So there will be money for the West Seattle Bridge.
You know, right now what's happening is that there is a community task force.
So it is not just SDOT that is making these decisions, but there is a West Seattle Bridge community task force that includes South Park neighbors, Georgetown neighbors, folks from West Seattle and folks from SDOT and other entities working together to figure out what the right answer is about whether to repair or replace.
And that's sort of the crux of the question right now.
And the, you know, the original announcement was that if we repaired the bridge, it might last for another 10 years.
I think, you know, they're doing constant engineering analysis.
And my understanding is that the thinking now is that different kinds of repairs could help the bridge last as long as 15 years.
But eventually it's gonna have to come down and get replaced, whether that is with a new bridge or with a tunnel is also part of the conversation.
So I'm not an engineer, I'm also not on the task force, but we are kept apprised I'm gonna say more than weekly, every couple of days we get updates.
And so yeah, the conversation about which option to choose is ongoing.
I think they're, I don't have that in front of me right now, but I think their hope is that by the end of the summer, they will have made a decision about which choice to make, which option to choose.
Sorry, I've got something in my eye.
No problem.
Well, our next question says, with police defunded, what do you propose dealing with all small businesses, such as ones in Pioneer Square, who are dealing with repeated break-ins, window breaking, violence, and attack of store employees?
Will smaller communities like Pioneer Square and Georgetown be forgotten?
So I want to, Thank you for that question.
I want to say again that what we are looking at is a shift in functions of what the department does.
So we have, as I said, the officers who are responding to homelessness problems, officers who are responding to mental health issues.
And there is a real interest in moving those folks out so that there is greater capacity to for whatever regular kind of policing we might want to do.
I will say that we haven't made any decisions yet.
I just want to be clear about that.
The kinds of conversations we're having are whether we should shift our focus to more of a community safety and violence prevention, for example.
This is something that they are looking at doing in Minneapolis.
So, you know, they are theoretically disbanding the police department, but they're replacing it with a community safety and violence prevention department.
In Camden, New Jersey, I'm sure a lot of folks are are hearing about what different kinds of communities are doing.
The city itself completely disbanded the department, but they shifted all those responsibilities to the county.
So I will say again, we haven't made any decisions.
We are exploring what a restructure could look like so that we can ensure community safety.
so that we can shift resources that don't need to, that don't require an armed officer to respond and shift those resources to community instead.
And so that we can invest in black and brown communities in the kind of solutions that we are hearing community wants, whether it's for housing or job training or, you know, dealing with homelessness options or investing in our young people in a different way.
So yeah, I'll stop there.
We haven't made any decisions yet, is what I'll say.
All right.
Well, this next one comes from Dee Powers.
Dee says, Seattle had vehicle residents sheltering in place with minimal interference from SPD's parking enforcement during the stay at home mandate.
With parking enforcement restarting on July 19th, the people living in their vehicles are once again subject to harassment and frequent impoundment of their homes.
Does the city have any ideas or plans to help vehicle residents keep their shelters and not add to the population that lives in tents?
Sure, that's a really important question.
Thank you, D.
You know, this is a concern that my staff and I had about parking enforcement starting over again, because we know that many vehicle residents do feel unsafe when they're interacting with the RV remediation team So I will say that we are working to replace the navigation team with, you know, trusted agencies like LEAD and REACH.
These are organizations that are very experienced and are doing street outreach and case management already.
And these are the trusted organizations that people go to.
So having the police involved in those interactions has really been counterproductive.
And so we're trying to shift the way that works.
And we really want to prioritize harm reduction, we want to prioritize mental health and service referral for mental health needs and for addiction services, and for shelters.
So, you know, we would certainly be open to discussing these kinds of approaches with vehicle residents, because we really do think that moving folks toward a more humane, honestly, a more humane outreach and case management process is going to be much more fruitful than just moving people from one neighborhood to another.
Got it.
The next question says, today marks the fifth anniversary of Donny Chin's murder.
What can we do to keep his investigation relevant?
I'm sorry, say that again, Marcus.
I'm sorry, I was having some technical difficulties when it's online here.
Anyway, the question says, today marks the fifth anniversary of Donnie Chin's murder.
What can we do to keep his investigation relevant?
Oh.
I will say that the kind of public safety, the kind of community safety that Donny Chin provided is honestly, I don't think something that can be replaced.
He was such an important figure in the Chinatown International District and such a resource to people there.
His loss is tragic on so many different levels.
I think the need to ensure that we continue to push, to continue to advocate, I'm certainly willing to continue to ask for what the status is of the investigative process.
Because that happened late at night, I don't think there were many witnesses.
If there were any witnesses, it is you know, something that we need to keep pushing for.
And I'm happy to continue to have those conversations because we need to make sure that every stone is unturned in trying to solve that murder and trying to find some justice for his community.
Understood.
Now I know, so this question comes from Yvette.
And it says, how can people of color be assured that filling out the census form is safe to do?
Well, I would say, you know, we have a lot of trusted advocates.
A lot of community organizations across the city have been working really hard to encourage particularly immigrants and communities of color to fill out the survey.
It's so important that we get an accurate count of who is in our community.
That said, I know how fearful people are of what the possible repercussions are.
So, Um, we have, uh, you know, people out in, um, advocating and working with community in different languages, working in different ways.
Um, and the, the, um, survey form can be filled out online, um, or it can be filled out, uh, on paper.
So if you are more comfortable filling it out on paper, and personally, I am, I, I did fill it out on paper.
I didn't want to do it online.
Um, then that is an option.
And, um, I would say, especially with the Russians doing who knows what, I don't blame people for being fearful.
And it is really important for all kinds of federal funding that we get that we have an accurate count.
So my plea would be that if you are nervous to do it on paper instead, so that we can get access to the resources that we need for our community.
And Tammy, I know we have approached the finish line here, but I did want to ask one more question.
I know that there are quite a few people who are feeling a bit on edge, and we are in a sort of a state of precarity in many ways.
Are there some words you have for the residents of D2?
I don't want to say that everything is going to be OK, But at least some sort of assurance that, you know, that our city council representatives are wanting to try to continue to obviously look out for them and that you are obviously open to inputs and feedback and so forth.
Sure.
Thank you, Marcus.
I do want to thank you for being here and for helping guide this conversation.
It's really good to see you.
And I look forward to the time when we can actually go have a cup of coffee together.
You know, I'm not gonna lie, this has been really hard.
You know, as a freshman coming into this position, I had lots of ideas about what I wanted to do for this community, lots of plans and commitments that I made on the campaign trail for how we were going to make sure that the South End was represented on City Hall.
I think we're still doing that.
It's just obviously very different from what we had expected.
And, you know, what I will say is that our commitment to this district is to live by our principles and our decisions will be guided by our values.
And the office itself is really guided by You know, we say this all the time, so if you've heard it before, I apologize, but our office is guided by three principles.
Centering racial equity, you know, really making sure that all of our decisions are grounded in whether they meet our priority for real equity in our community.
democratizing access to power and resources, which is why we are excited about the participatory budget process that people are talking about, because that is one way that we can get out in community and hear from you about what your priorities are.
It's why we do things like the town hall and why we do things like the community conversations on Fridays, because we do want to hear what you have to say.
So democratizing access to power and resources, and then planning for the seventh generation.
We are trying, it's been hard to talk about climate justice right now, but through our transportation, through our housing, things that we're moving, through our interest in making sure that our young people are prioritized in how we move the city forward.
You know, those are some of the guiding principles for our office.
And I will say that I fully expect our community to hold us accountable.
I know folks in the South End are not shy about sharing their opinion, and we welcome that.
The other thing I will say, you know, I was actually up in Beacon Hill a couple of weeks ago getting to go dinner, and a neighbor came up and said, You know, Tammy, I don't always agree with you.
I think he might have said, I often don't agree with you, but I always know where you stand.
And he appreciates that.
And so, you know, that's what I will leave you with.
I understand that we might not always agree, but I will always be clear about why I think we need to do something in a certain way and we can continue to have a conversation.
And I fully expect that you will continue to hold me accountable.
Well, Tammy, it was a pleasure as always.
Thank you to everybody who asked a question.
I'm sorry if I didn't get to all of them, but I did my best.
And everybody, please stay healthy, stay safe, and wishing everybody good fortune.
Thank you.
Thanks for being here, everybody.