Seattle City Council Select Budget Committee 102522 Session I

Good morning, everyone.

Welcome to the Seattle City Council Select Budget Committee meeting.

Today is October 25th, 2022. The time is 9.32 a.m.

I'm Teresa Mosqueda, Chair of the Select Budget Committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Strauss?

Present.

Council Member Herbold?

Here.

Council Member Juarez?

Here, Councilmember Lewis Councilmember Morales here Councilmember Nelson present Councilmember Peterson present Councilmember so want.

Chair Mosqueda.

Present.

Eight present.

Thank you very much.

And when Council Member Sawant joins us, we'll make sure to announce her.

Colleagues, I want to thank you and greatly appreciate the members of the community who have dialed in to provide remote comment and the folks in the room as well.

We are in the now fifth week of our eight-week budget process.

Today we will begin an overview of the various departments that have proposed amendments.

Today, tomorrow, and Thursday is an opportunity for us to get more into the details of each of these departments over the course of three days.

So you can consider this maybe one of three days as one long consecutive agenda, if you will.

That's why we front loaded today with an extended public comment period.

And after public comment, we will have arts and culture, the auditor's department, the city budget office, Seattle center, The Department of Education and Early Learning, the Seattle Information Technology Department, the Office of Housing, and then the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, Labor Standards Office, the Seattle City Light Department, and Seattle Public Utilities.

That is the total of the amendments that we have for today.

And we will have a series of discussions over the course of Wednesday and Thursday as well.

I do understand that there is an amendment that has been suggested for walk-on.

So before we accept today's agenda that includes the above items that I just listed, I wanna just double check to see if council member Salwant has joined us.

Okay, I'm going to, on her behalf, go ahead and make a motion to go ahead and amend the agenda to include the amendment that she circulated before 5 p.m.

the day before.

I move to adopt the agenda to include the amendment that Council Member Salwant circulated before 5 p.m.

yesterday.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you very much.

Is that Council Member Salwant?

Yes, this is Mia.

For some reason my...

audio from my laptop is not working.

So I've logged in both places.

Council member Jackson.

Council member Sawant.

Is there any additional comments before we adopt the agenda?

Hearing no additional comments.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the role on the adoption of the amendment to the agenda?

Council member Strauss.

Yes Council member Herbold.

Yes Council member Juarez.

I Council member Lewis.

Yes Council member Morales.

Yes Council member Yes.

Chair Mosqueda?

Aye.

I believe that's nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

The motion carries and the amendment is adopted.

The agenda is now amended.

Are there any additional comments on the agenda before it is adopted?

Thank you very much.

Madam Clerk, I'm not hearing any additional comments.

Please do go ahead and call the roll on the adopted agenda, on the amended agenda, excuse me.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Aye.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Chair Mosqueda?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Chair, sorry, I missed that.

It's an aye for me as well.

Thank you, nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you very much.

The agenda is unanimously adopted.

Okay, everyone, we are very excited to have the opportunity to get into these discussions today.

I do want to, I'm gonna keep my mask on, is that okay?

Can folks hear me all right?

Okay, thank you.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to work with you in collaboration.

That's folks here in community and also in chambers.

I wanna thank as well our central staff and the city budget's office.

Thanks for all the participation over the last five weeks.

We have been covering significant policy areas for real impact to the people of Seattle.

I'll take this off briefly.

This is very important dialogue that we're having throughout the course of this week.

For the 2023-2024 budget, the questions that you've asked will help inform what gets funded this year.

The ideas that you've brought forward will help inform how we can really support our community in these tough times.

I want to thank you again for the feedback that we've received so far and also note that we're only halfway through.

All of the conversations are going to inform today's deliberations and will also influence our discussions over the next four weeks.

I wanna appreciate as well all of the council members who've submitted their amendments on time.

100 amendments were considered for this week.

So following a brief introduction from myself and the central staff, we will go through each of the departments.

I'll be asking for a short comment from the primary sponsor.

And then if there's a question or comment that council members would like to make, you are encouraged to do so.

Just wanna remind both our council colleagues and also members of the public, There are no votes this week.

This is a week for discussion and deliberation to really understand more about what is being proposed for our council colleagues and also for members of the public.

I just want you to be aware that council members do not need to sign on to a amendment to show their support, of course, voicing support or comments of support are welcome, but they're not necessary either.

We do have a hundred amendments to get through.

So I just want to make sure that if there is a specific priority amendment of yours and you're in the community, if you don't see a council member sign on or speak up, that is not an indication that they don't support it.

It's just us trying to keep moving forward so that we can get to the deliberation because there is no vote today.

Signing onto an amendment is not a proxy vote.

I also wanna appreciate our council colleagues who have shown really impressive ideas through their amendments and also some restraint as we also are dealing with the $141 million in budget deficit, excuse me, in operating deficit that we are facing this year.

Appreciate the thoughtful approach to this and also that some revenue ideas are being suggested.

This will be all part of our deliberations as we work towards creating a balancing package for the council's consideration from the legislative branch on November 7th.

I want to thank folks for the opportunity to work with you over the next few weeks.

We are very interested in making sure that we understand the full impact of your amendments and really appreciate that this week is focused mostly on additions, what we'd like to see added to the budget before it is passed.

Again, for members of the public and a reminder to our council colleagues, usually cuts are not something that are proposed in this first round of amendments, but I wanna make sure that the community knows if you saw something in there that you didn't like, if it doesn't have a cut proposed to it, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's not up for discussion and deliberation.

And a quick clarification, I use the term cuts and adds because it's easy to think about that relative to the mayor's proposed budget.

But many of the additions are proposed additions.

So a reduction in those additions would not actually be a cut to the community.

That is a nuance that's important to get right.

And we'll make sure to continue to remind folks of that because the proposed budget is all that.

It is a proposal.

And so when the council, the legislative branch puts forward a different proposal, if it's still an increase, I want that to be noted as well.

The chair's balancing package, again, will be released on November 7th, and I have asked central staff to do something very important this year.

We've spent a lot of time in the last few weeks talking about the use of general fund revenue-adjacent revenue streams, such as JumpStart Seattle, Progressive Payroll Tax, the Transportation Network Companies, or the TNC tax, and also the short-term rental tax.

It is part of our public deliberations that some of these funds are being used in different ways that are identified in the spend plan and specific to Jumpstart codified in statute.

So throughout the upcoming few weeks, I will be working with central staff to try to realign some of these revenue streams with some of the original intention as proposed and codified in statute.

To ensure that central staff has enough time to begin working on some of these changes, I've flagged for my council colleagues and I want to flag for all of you that I have asked central staff to develop a few omnibus budget amendments.

I may consider these omnibus amendments as we consider the balancing package to ensure that the initial package accomplishes the following two things.

realligns the proposed revenue streams as best as possible within the spending categories as defined in statute, or only allows for a temporary deviation from those policies if it aligns with important values like preventing cuts and austerity.

Second, that we go through all of the proposals in the budget to really avoid any reductions or any cuts in services, especially in these tough times as folks are still dealing with the impact, both physical and economic impact of COVID.

As we discussed throughout the course of the last few weeks, again, the reason, the importance for having this omnibus budget amendment approach on a few items is to make sure that we are creating a balancing package.

And in order for us to create a balanced package, we needed to start early on some of these larger policy changes to address a few things.

One is the significant changes in existing policy.

Again, any deviations that we saw from the codified spend plan.

And then there's a few other large proposed policy changes in the budget.

Again, we only have an eight-week timeline, so large policy changes is something that we wanted to look specifically at and see how we could address those in the budget, but also in future actions as well.

There's also some major new initiatives included in this budget, like the proposed unified care team and the changes to this clean Seattle proposal.

So we'll be working with central staff to see how we can best align the legislative intent and interest with what the mayor's proposed budget has suggested.

But there may be some changes to those areas as we see these are large policy changes in the middle of budget.

I also want to address that we are very interested in making sure that we're maintaining services again.

And this will be my last comment before we move on to public comment, but very important to me as chair and I believe to the council in the last two years.

In the midst of this pandemic, we have tried to do everything we can to prevent cuts and prevent austerity.

We know that it's not only important to the vulnerable communities who rely on public services, and core government support during these tough times, it's also the best thing that we can do for our local economy.

We have seen time and time again when there's economic hardship, the jurisdictions and states that rush to an austerity approach that rush to cut spending only hurts the local economy, including private business.

So if our joint interest is in making sure that we have a more just and equitable recovery for all, including businesses, it's really important that we look through this budget for the 2023-2024 calendar years and prevent cuts for our community, our residents, and our small business and local economy.

As always, if there's any questions, Council colleagues, we want to make sure to answer those.

Chief of Staff Sejal Parikh in my office is available, or anyone on central staff, specifically Ali Panucci and Esther Handy as deputy and as deputy director and director of as city's central staff.

And I will also want to make sure that folks know that there's going to be a lot of conversations with council colleagues, members of the community in the upcoming weeks before the final November 7th proposed chair's balancing package is suggested.

And then to my council colleagues questions as well about votes after the November 7th presentation of the chair's proposed budget, then we will have the chance to vote on any additional amendments before the budget is finalized.

Thank you all so much for continuing to dial in to provide public comment for our deliberations throughout the upcoming weeks, we have committed to at least an hour and a half 90 minutes of public comic that would bring us to 10. That would bring us, help me, 1115. And wanna make sure that we get through everyone though, because there are a number of people signed up and in person.

So we will do one minute for public comment for everyone.

For those who do have an interpreter, we will double your time so that we can hear the full comments.

We will start with the first 10 people signed up on the website, and then we'll go to the next 10 people in the room.

Madam Clerk, do you mind teeing up the video for our recognition?

Hello, Seattle.

We are the Emerald City, the City of Flowers and the City of Goodwill, built on indigenous land, the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.

The Seattle City Council welcomes remote public comment and is eager to hear from residents of our city.

If you would like to be a speaker and provide a verbal public comment, you may register two hours prior to the meeting via the Seattle City Council website.

Here's some information about the public comment proceedings.

Speakers are called upon in the order in which they registered on the Council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number provided when they registered online and used the meeting ID and passcode that was emailed upon confirmation.

If you did not receive an email confirmation, please check your spam or junk mail folders.

A reminder, the speaker meeting ID is different from the general listen line meeting ID provided on the agenda.

Once a speaker's name is called, the speaker's microphone will be unmuted and an automatic prompt will say, the host would like you to unmute your microphone.

That is your cue that it's your turn to speak.

At that time, you must press star six.

You will then hear a prompt of, you are unmuted.

Be sure your phone is unmuted on your end so that you will be heard.

As a speaker, you should begin by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

A chime will sound when 10 seconds are left in your allotted time as a gentle reminder to wrap up your public comments.

At the end of the allotted time, your microphone will be muted, and the next speaker registered will be called.

Once speakers have completed providing public comment, please disconnect from the public comment line and join us by following the meeting via Seattle Channel Broadcast or through the listening line option listed on the agenda.

The Council reserves the right to eliminate public comment if the system is being abused.

or if the process impedes the council's ability to conduct its business on behalf of residents of the city.

Any offensive language that is disruptive to these proceedings or that is not focused on an appropriate topic as specified in council rules may lead to the speaker being muted by the presiding officer.

Our hope is to provide an opportunity for productive discussions that will assist our orderly consideration of issues before the council.

The public comment period is now open, and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.

Please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt of, you have been unmuted.

Thank you, Seattle.

Thank you very much, everyone.

So the custom in Seattle here is to call on former electeds as well, who are also in the audience.

I want to make sure to call the first three speakers, Council Member Sally Bagshaw, Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim, and then Council President Jim Street.

And then we will continue with the list.

Good morning, Council Member Bagshaw.

And I see Council Member, you are still muted.

If you can hit star six one more time.

You might be muted on your end, star six.

Okay, let's keep Council Member Bagshaw on the screen.

And let's also queue up Deputy Mayor Hayoak Kim.

Good morning, Hayoak.

Good morning, Deputy Mayor Kim.

Good morning.

Thank you so much.

My name is Hayok Kim.

And this morning I'm representing the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle King County.

And it's 190 members to urge your support of amendment number OH-300-A-200.

HCC thanks Council Member Herbold for introducing and Chair Mosqueda and Council Member Strauss for co-sponsoring this amendment relating to non-permanent supportive housing or non-PSHA resident services.

We also thank the council for providing investments last year as bridge funding, recognizing that their needs of residents in affordable housing have become increasingly complex, and that housing providers need more tools to help meet these needs.

This amendment does not have any financial impact this year.

I hope, Chair Mosqueda, that you will be happy to hear that.

But it does help to further the intent of last year's allocation.

and we look forward to working with you and the rest of the city council as we continue to work on the next iteration of the housing levy.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

I want to appreciate also the former council member who was the budget chair, Council Member Bagchai.

I see you're off mute and then we'll go to Council President Street.

Good morning, Council Member Bagchai.

Good morning, Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you for allowing me a moment to talk about Thomas Street.

Last night, all of you received a letter from 19 organizations and one individual supporting the continued investments in Thomas Street.

And many of you will remember how much work has already gone on into this project.

In 2017, we had a number of workshops that led to a final proposal from SDOT that was called the NOTO map, a handy acronym for the North Downtown Mobility Action Plan.

And commitments have been made by the city to reduce traffic congestions.

We have made commitments to the Seattle Center Arts and Sports Organizations and voters committed to rebuild the Memorial Stadium just this last January.

And in addition, Commitments were made by the Climate Pledge Arena to put $40 million into local transportation.

And we're asking you please to support Council Member Lewis's recommendation to fund Thomas Street this year with $2.5 million.

And I thank you very much for letting me in.

Absolutely.

Thank you very much, Council Member.

And good morning, Council President Street.

I might just take a quick second to team up.

And then after this, I'm going to go to Peter Condon, BJ Last and Castille Hightower.

Do we have Council Member Street with us?

OK, let's keep our eye out for them.

If they make it into the queue here, we'll go ahead and give them a ring.

At this point, we'll go ahead and call on Peter Condon, BJ Last.

Good morning, Peter.

Star six unmute.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chairman Skoda.

This is Peter Condit, a small business owner in District 6. I support the solidarity budget and believe the police should have a smaller budget.

Every community member who gets killed by the cops is a reminder that years of bringing more resources into SPD is a failed strategy for safety that allows police violence to continue.

Council should remove $17 million from SPD to eliminate ghost cops, positions they have no plan or ability to fill, and should remove an additional $3.4 million to bring the department's hiring and retention plan into closer alignment with reality.

We need homes, sidewalks, and a Green New Deal, not a bloated police department budget.

Lastly, council should not allow parking enforcement officers to go back into SPD next year.

Instead, council should be working to remove the SPD branding from PEO uniforms and vehicles and should rethink the function of these personnel to move them farther away from the status quo of punitive enforcement.

Any plan for true public safety cannot include the violence and threats of violence that policing entails.

Defund SVD.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you, Peter.

BJ, good morning, followed by Castile Hightower.

Do we have BJ Last with us?

Okay, I'm gonna move on to, I see they're present.

So if we can get folks teed up in three at a time, that would be helpful.

BJ Last.

Okay, I see Castillo.

Good morning, BJ.

Please go ahead.

My name is BJ Last.

I'm a Ballard resident in Small Business Center.

I support the solidarity budget.

PEOs should remain in SDOT.

Civilian functions should be in civilian led departments.

PEOs have been in SDOT less than a year, and there hasn't even been a real attempt.

to integrate them to SDOT, given how a lot of them still have SPD branding.

So it's way too early to say that this move was a mistake.

Additionally, the final landing place of CEOs is uncertain.

So it wouldn't make sense to move them this year to then potentially move them again in another year.

And Seattle is required to have a balanced budget, which means spending 17 million on ghost cops, a position that SPD admits it has no ability to fill, is less money that can be spent on affordable housing.

Vision Zero to keep pedestrians and cyclists safe on our streets.

We've had record numbers of pedestrians and cyclists getting hit by cars this year.

That's unacceptable.

We also need more Green New Deal investments.

And the $17 million is very conservative, given that even SPD admits its hiring and retention assumptions for next year are extremely optimistic.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you so much.

And I see Castille.

Good morning, Castille, followed by Allison Isenger.

Good morning.

Can you hear me?

Yes, I can.

Thank you.

My brother, Hightower Junior's killing by Seattle police creates generational trauma that is still felt to this day.

While the city poured millions into defending and justifying his killing and so many like his, we barely scraped together enough money to bury and properly mourn him.

While the city funds officer wellness programs and family services for officers, we were only recently able to pay for Herbert's headstone so his only son could bring his dad flowers.

When were the more obligations of victims of violence be extended to victims of police violence?

We are no less harmed or traumatized just because our victimizer is a Seattle police officer.

As our crimes are joined out by an accountability system that refuses to hold officers accountable, loses victim complaints, and within a five-year span still has not set up an appeal system for said complaints, I ask you, when will our pain matter?

Victims of police violence and their families deserve resources such as mental health services, funeral expenses, and assistance, navigating a hostile system that often we traumatize through bureaucracy.

We demand resources, we demand accountability, and we demand to be included in this 2023 budget.

Justice for all victims of police violence.

Thank you.

Thank you, Castile.

Good morning, Allison.

Allison's followed by Howard Gale.

And Allison you're still on mute star six please.

Okay thank you.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Good morning council members.

My name is Allison Isengar with the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness and I'm here this morning in solidarity with the folks who do the essential work to shelter house and help people across Seattle.

I want to offer special thanks to Council Member Mosqueda for working with us to make sure that investments in the unified care team and Clean Seattle both protect people and shared public spaces across Seattle.

It's appropriate and effective to focus those investments so city staff can provide necessary public services like garbage pickup cleaning and maintenance and skilled human service providers can do their work with people who need homes through contracts with our regional homelessness authority.

You'll hear from the REACH team about how their neighborhood focused work helps our whole community including people without homes local businesses and house residents.

This will improve our entire city.

And we also want to appreciate Council Member Morales for her sponsorship of a $9.4 million amendment to prevent loss of shelter.

Thank you very much, Allison.

Howard, good morning, followed by Kate Rubin.

Good morning, Howard Gale with seattlestop.org.

Two years after George Floyd, the budget the council is now considering proposes more money for the police and wastes over $11 million on a police accountability system that still has police investigating police.

This is $11 million spent denying victims of police violence any appeals or any semblance of justice or accountability.

This budget provides monies for victims of violence unless that violence is perpetrated by a Seattle police officer.

This budget provides monies to stem gun violence unless that violence is perpetrated by a Seattle police officer.

This bias is embedded throughout our public safety system.

Seattle police do not even count police killings as homicides in their homicide data, though King County and every other state agency reporting these statistics, of course, does.

We need to end this double standard and hypocrisy.

If this council is not going to provide for actual police accountability, at least provide monies to support the victims of police violence and their families in order to address the harms you have allowed to continue.

Thank you.

And just a quick reminder, the council has not yet proposed the budget.

So this is the mayor's proposed budget, but I think that's fair to say this is maybe the city's proposed budget, but just want to make sure that we oriented folks to where we're at in the process.

The council still is deliberating its initial proposal, which will come out on November 7th.

Kate Rubin, followed by M.

Marvey, and then Emma York-Jones.

Good morning, Kate.

Hi, my name is Kate Rubin.

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

I support the solidarity budget because we share in the vision of affordable and equitable housing for all, where everyone in Seattle has the opportunity to thrive.

The city's approach of criminalizing poverty has not been working.

We need to stop the sweep and invest deeply in basic needs such as housing, including social housing, support services, and crisis response.

The end of the moratorium coincided with massive increases to the cost of living, but the mayor's proposed budget keeps funding for tenant services, grants, and contracts at 2022 levels.

Community-based organizations like B Seattle, the Tenants Union, and others are already struggling to keep up with the need for tenant support.

I urge council to increase this funding by at least 8.6%.

Eviction is the number one cause of homelessness.

We need adequate funding to prevent displacement and eviction by educating tenants about renter protections and resources, supporting tenant organizing, and growing the power and leadership of renters, especially in communities that have been historically oppressed.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

M.

Marvey, followed by M.

York-Jones, and then we'll go to 10 people in the audience here.

Good morning, M.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Guadalupe Mabry, and I'm the Associate Director of King County Programs and Services at the YWCA of Seattle-Kingston-Homish.

I'm here as a member of the Seattle Human Services Coalition, speaking today in favor of fully funding human services.

Human service providers and city officials agree that human service workers are significantly underpaid for the difficult work they do.

As a result, workers are voting with their feet and leaving the sector.

Without adequate funding we will have to reduce services in the community at locations like Angeline's Day Center for Homeless Women, which provides critical safety, shelter, meals, and hygiene services.

We need continued sustained funding for the services that we provide.

Demand has not decreased and funding shouldn't either.

Thank you all for your support funding these priorities in the budget and thank you for your time this morning.

Thank you very much.

OK.

And now one more person I believe we have Emma York Jones.

Good morning council members.

My name is Emma York Jones and I am the chief program and impact officer at Youth Care.

I am here in partnership with other organizations around the city in strong support of council members Morales Peterson and Lewis's amendment to backfill federal funds for shelter and day centers in Seattle.

Youth Care's three engagement centers employ over 50 individuals.

As case managers, housing navigators, shelter support staff, and educators, multiple languages and cultures are represented by our staff, and many come from the very communities they are serving.

The vast majority of these staff are represented by OPEIU Local 8.

Not only do our engagement centers serve as essential sites for clients to have their basic needs met, like hygiene services, warm meals, and shelter, but also as the home base for youth cares programs in the community.

street outreach services school connections re-entry from juvenile detention behavioral and physical health and much more.

Thank you for your consideration and for support of our essential services and the staff who provide them.

Thank you so much.

And thanks to everybody again for dialing in.

We're going to go to the next 10 people in the room.

That was pretty efficient.

So thanks everybody.

If you do hear something that you like, please do this as an indication of support so that we can keep going and nobody's audio gets cut off.

And that can be true as well for folks who are commenting online.

Obviously, you know, there's a lot of things that here that I think are intersectional and people are here for multiple topics.

So if you'd like to do that, that's great, but please refrain from applauding or any other comments so that we can get right through it.

And for the folks who have interpreters, we will have two minutes for people who need interpreter services.

Please do keep to your one minute time, and then the interpreter will have one minute as well.

Carolyn Malone, followed by Sam Wolf, and then Tiara Dearborn.

Good morning, Carolyn.

And if folks want to start lining up at the podium, you're welcome to when you're next in line.

That'd be Sam Wolf and Tiara Dearborn.

I'm Carolyn Malone from 910 Marion Street on Capitol Hill.

I'm here.

My focus is police brutality, public safety.

Because of my continuous protest against police, I have been harassed.

These photos are either police living in my building or police affiliates.

Each time I protest, I'm threatened with housing insufficiency.

Right now, I'm in housing limbo because of Seattle police harassment.

I'm working with adult protective service workers to stop the illegal eviction.

My housing subsidy through HUD has been canceled because of these police.

I will continue to exercise my civil rights to speak out despite these horror photos police put in my path of dead rats.

Four dead rats have been placed in my path to scare me, intimidate me, police brutality.

Folks only have one minute.

Okay, thank you so much.

And we'll have a staff member come out and get your contact information as well.

Good morning.

Welcome, Sam.

My name is Sam Wolf.

Just a second, Sam.

Can I confirm that your microphone is on?

Test, test.

Okay, I think we're good.

Good.

Is it on?

My name is Sam Wolf.

I'm a senior project manager for the LEAD program.

I'm here regarding 038A001, asking council to restore the funding for LEAD and CoLEAD.

We are significantly underfunded for the job we've been asked to do.

If this funding is not restored, then our work will be severely impacted.

Our work includes the provision of non-congregate shelter.

It includes long-term case management, which walks with a person from the point of being in the revolving door of incarceration until they have reached a point of safety and stability.

We have built a viable alternative to encampment sweeps, and we have done this work throughout COVID, doing so in close coordination with communities around the city.

As the next era of revitalization and public safety planning unfolds, we cannot afford to lose these resources we've built.

And before I finish, I'd also like to stand in solidarity with those asking for a living wage increase for human services workers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Tierra, Dear Bone, followed by Michael McClendon, and then

Angela Ying.

Good morning.

Morning council.

My name is Tara Dearborn.

I'm also commenting on amendment number 038A001.

As you know, LEAD and Co-LEAD have been working with part of the city's most vulnerable residents, most having experienced long-term homelessness who have also been subject to arrest and incarceration for their unmet behavioral health needs, substance use and poverty.

We've demonstrated that this approach works and have maintained critical services throughout the pandemic.

If funding is not restored, this will be the third year that we're unable to scale up to do the work we've been asked to do and in accordance with resolution 31916. LEED and COLEED have been scaling up, scaling up facilities cited, hiring and making commitments to do work in high needs neighborhoods.

and would have to shrink back down.

Please support restoring the lead and co-lead funding for 2023 and keep these critical services intact.

I also stand in solidarity with the Human Services Coalition and agree that service providers should be paid a living wage.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Michael, followed by Angela Ying and Keith Irvin.

Good morning.

Oh, excuse me.

That's Michelle.

Michelle McClendon.

So sorry.

Please go ahead.

That's okay.

My father's name is Michael.

There you go.

Thank you so much.

I am here today asking for the restoration of funding for HSP03A001.

Just as a frontline service worker, the work that we are doing for co-lead, excuse me, with co-lead and lead, I am a first responder.

And just being in an environment where it's seen with non-congregate shelters promote community, as well as life skills for folks.

We have been able to also provide legal aid for those who may be justice involved.

We also need the money to do the work that we need to do, right?

Being in the community, I believe Bill creates with outreach teams, creates partnerships, trust in the community.

We are addressing the public health issues and safety issues that are in the community by building relationships with business owners, community members, and said places.

Also just being able to have the life skills to understand that substance use is a disorder.

It's not who you are.

We don't want to label folks.

We want to be able to treat them with dignity, integrity, and respect and help them navigate this.

But we also want to address not just the barriers, but we come from a holistic approach.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you.

The next person is, oh, the Reverend Angela Ying.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you, City Council.

I'm the Reverend Angela Ying.

Bethany United Church of Christ, in partnership with Green Buildings Now, the Beacon Hill Council, Sparks Northwest, and many others in our community ask that the City Council support OSE 0038, which is sponsored by council members Morales, Herbaut, and Lewis and others for $455,000 to the Office of Sustainability Environment to support development of a community-led resilience hub in South Beacon Hill.

located at Bethany's UCC.

This resilience hub already under development is located in Beacon Hill that has 40,000 residents and 40% immigrants and refugees and 70% BIPOC.

More than one in five of our residents live in poverty and you've heard many of these stories right here and are most vulnerable.

So we ask that you help us to approve this amendment proposed by the council budget and that we accelerate decarbonization of Seattle.

Together, the city and our community can make a difference in climate change.

Blessings.

Thank you very much.

Next, we'll hear from Keith Irvin and then Cindy Irvin.

Good morning, Keith.

Council members.

I, my name is Keith urban, and I am here today also to speak in support of the proposal from Council members Morales Lewis and herbal to fund completion of a resilience hub on South Beacon Hill.

I'm on the leadership team of Green Buildings Now, a volunteer organization created to decarbonize buildings in a just way and to bring the benefits of clean energy to communities most harmed by climate pollution.

And as you've heard a little bit about the partnership that's putting the resilience hub together.

We've raised a substantial amount of money, nearly a quarter of a million dollars in contributions from many individuals, religious communities, and charitable foundations.

One building on the campus has already been weatherized.

Rooftop solar has been installed along with battery backup.

And we have funds to do more, but we do need government help.

So we hope you will pass this.

I do have a good...

Excellent.

Yes.

If you have paper, we will take that.

And Madam Clerk, if you'd like to distribute that right now, that sounds good too.

Okay, the next person is Cindy Irvin, followed by Katisha Alterberry.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Cindy Irvin, and I'm also testifying in support of the South Beacon Hill Resilience Hub.

A couple of years ago, a small group decided to do something concrete and local about environmental justice and an equitable transition off of fossil fuels.

We've been honored to partner with community leaders in supporting the creation of a resilience hub on South Beacon Hill.

We've all shown we can work hard and accomplish a lot.

Now we're asking that the city join this partnership.

Please support the South Beacon Hill resilience hub.

Let's move together with love, determination, and due urgency toward a clean city and resilient communities.

Thank you.

Thank you and Katisha Alderberry followed by Tanya.

Good morning Katisha.

Good morning council.

My name is Katisha Alderberry.

I'm the founder and managing director of Urban Black We are a mission based real estate development firm based here in Seattle, joined by Ignatius D should bear our senior development manager as well as Albertus Brooks, an officer of the board of the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund.

Our vision is develop a innovative and culturally specific land projects that transform neighborhoods and promotes economic value within diverse communities.

We're here to make public statement today regarding our request for funding that was submitted to the Office of Community Planning and Development, the Office of Housing, OED, and members of the City Council.

We oversee over $250 million in project value through our community-focused mixed-use development projects located in the Central District, Southeast Seattle, West Seattle, and the South Park, as well as another 50 million in lending capital through the Rainier Valley Development Fund through my presidency.

Our projects, our initiatives generate millions in economic value for the city.

And we are here to inform you that urban black has provided the services for an economic opportunity center through the city, but we cannot continue without funding.

So as you move forward through this budget season please consider the many communities attached to our work and priority.

Thank you very much.

The next person is a Tanya.

Mo.

Perhaps and Kathy Fan.

Good morning, Tanya and thanks for correcting my last name.

The last name.

I'm sorry.

I couldn't read it.

Hi, my name is a friend of Seattle C I d Chinatown International District.

So, um.

Really quick history, there's 30 community members here.

We walked all the way here from Chinatown to National Districts.

You may have met us in the past regarding a shelter expansion, the Solo Shelter Hub, right across the street from our community.

We are very appreciative that that has been stopped.

But our main goals this whole entire time was public safety and community outreach.

And so we're here again asking for community-based solutions and an investment into our community.

The county and...

Actually, the city is investing 88.7 million into KCRHA.

We're asking for 5% of those funds to come into our community as a holistic view.

So we're asking for 85% of 88.7 million is about 4.43 million of investment coming into our community for public safety, economic recovery, housing, and behavioral health services that will be based on community solutions.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you.

And just like this, Please do this instead of applause.

Thank you, so we can keep going.

Kathy, good morning, Kathy.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Kathy, and I am also here to support the CID's request for council funding.

Specifically, I'd like to stress that in order to be the most effective, this funding must be provided in a transparent manner visible to the residents of the CID.

When we next receive much needed funding from the Council, I implore you to make decisions in a way that engages the proper audience at each step of the process.

We have volunteer organizations out there, like the Community Watch and a dozen others who know the needs of the community best.

Let's combine the Council's experience with combating homelessness and crime on a larger scale with this local expertise.

Neighborhood-based organizations can also be powerful allies for working with the Council over the long term, providing continuity and due diligence to carry out multi-year projects past election cycles.

Most importantly, I believe these groups are key to making sure that the non-English-speaking residents can receive and offer communication on the initiatives taking place.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

At this point, we're going to turn back to the folks online.

The next speakers will be Tiffany McCoy, Alice Lockhart and Sarah Robbins.

Good morning, Tiffany.

Good morning.

Thank you, Councilmember Mosqueda.

My name is Tiffany McCoy.

I am the advocacy director, real change and calling in to show real terms of support for the demands of the solidarity budget, as well as Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

And also want to just specifically pull out three budget amendments that Council Member Morales has put forward.

Those are OH-002A-001-2023, which would create the Municipal Housing Administrative Fund.

We need to be adding more tools to our tool belt on serving affordable housing in the city of Seattle.

And the second two are OSE 001A and OSE 002A.

Those are an apprenticeship and a certification program for our building trades to learn passive house standards and other green building standards.

We saw how the wildfire smoke affected neighbors that were unhoused and how we need to be building our buildings to the highest green standard in order

Thank you.

The next person is Alice Lockhart, followed by Sarah Robbins.

Good morning, Alice.

Good morning.

I'm Alice Lockhart, and I volunteer with 350 Seattle and Solidarity Budget.

Two things.

First, 350 Seattle wholeheartedly supports Council Member Morales' amendment for a pre-apprenticeship and certification for green building.

This embodies climate justice values.

Second, because the mayor's 2023 budget uses Jumpstart to backfill a huge general fund budget hole, the $2.6 million of general fund amendments before you today, all essentially come directly from Jumpstart.

I trust the chair's balancing package won't allow the mayor's ever-increasing rate on Jumpstart, the grab of 10% of Jumpstart for a Herald Reserve Fund, the use of Jumpstart to supplant other funding sources, mingling of the jumpstart fund allocation plan, but can this committee also ask for every budget item, is it worth the funding Green New Deal and housing, particularly in overfunded policing, but also in every department, is each item needed for us to thrive?

Can we do without it or do it more cheaply?

Thanks, Alice.

And then we'll go to Sarah Robbins and followed by Jim Street.

Council President Jim Street is also back on the line.

Sarah and then Council President Street.

Good morning, Sarah.

Good morning Chair Mosqueda and members of the council.

My name is Sarah Robbins and I'm the Senior Policy Manager at the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness and a resident of District 2. I am testifying today on behalf of the essential workers that work in homeless and human services.

I know that each of you are committed to solving homelessness and supporting essential workers in this sector.

My asks today are to support a full 7.6 percent inflation increase as required by ordinance 1, 2, 5, 8, 6, 5 that passed unanimously in 2019. And that 7.6% include the 2.8% that the council added to the base 2022 budget.

This full amount is necessary to ensure that human service providers do not experience a cut.

I also ask that you support the amendment to maintain the $9.4 million in the budget for the King County Regional Homelessness to maintain the current shelter capacity that we have.

We cannot lose these essential services.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Council President Street, are you with us?

Yes, I'm with you.

Wonderful.

Please go ahead.

First, I want to start with a question, and that is whether the City Council continues to support the goal to reduce Seattle greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030. In my conversations with executive staff, It appears that we're nowhere close to being on track to achieve that reduction goal.

And we don't have a current action plan in place that would help us get back on track or a process for ongoing transparency so that citizens can understand what progress is being made and if not, why not.

Please include in the 2023 budget, the funds for developing a comprehensive climate action plan by the second quarter of next year.

An independent contractor would offer a way to add expertise by reducing the bureaucratic hurdles related to adding staff, and we think would cost around $350,000.

Without action now, we will not produce a comprehensive or achieve the results we want to achieve, and we need your leadership.

We need climate champions.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Okay, we're going to continue on with Amanda Sandoval, followed by Dennis Sills.

Dennis, your list is not present.

Please go ahead and dial in.

Then we'll hear from Dawn Blakeney.

Good morning, Amanda.

Good morning, Council Members and colleagues.

I'm Amanda Sandoval, and I'm King County Advocacy Manager with the Mockingbird Society in District 3. I just wanted to remind Council of the vote in 2019, which included now Mayor Bruce Harrell, to make sure wages keep up with inflation for people who provide frontline services, for our neighbors experiencing homelessness, and other under-invested populations.

This vote was made with the intent to fund full wage increases in both periods of both economic growth and economic hardship.

Currently,

Many of our organizations serving our unhoused neighbors are already experiencing extreme levels of turnover and vacancies.

Some organizations are experiencing as high as a 75% turnover rate, while the five largest homelessness service providers have over 300 open positions that cannot be filled due to a lack of adequate wages.

Our unhoused neighbors deserve stable, community environments, and workers that care for them.

And if we're serious about ending homelessness, we need to invest in this critical workforce.

Thank you so much.

And Dennis, you're still listed as not present.

Dennis Sills, please go ahead and dial in.

Don Blakeney, followed by Phoebe Feldser.

Good morning, Don.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Don Blakeney.

I'm the executive director for the U District Partnership.

I'm here today to speak about the impact that city dollars can have in a neighborhood like the U District.

First, I'm asking Council Members to back Council Member Nelson's $2 million amendment for a pilot program to fund treatment for substance use disorder.

So much of our work in the UDIS Center around unaddressed behavioral health disorders, the majority of which involve substance use.

Having appropriate resources to support people in our community struggling with substance use is critical.

Second, I'm asking the council members to support council member Herbold's amendment to restore full funding for LEAD and COLEAD.

Our neighborhood is on board with the idea that many law violations are best responded to with coordinated care, not jail and prosecution.

But that actually has to happen.

COLEAD and LEAD intervene with some of the most challenging individuals in our community and also help us identify system reforms needed to provide our outcomes.

We can't go backwards.

Please ensure this funding is fully restored.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next, we'll hear from Phoebe.

Good morning, Phoebe.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Hello, council members.

My name is Phoebe Felcher, and I live in District 3. I'm a union representative at OPEIU Local 8, and I represent workers at Solid Ground and Youth Care.

OPEIU Local 8 also represents workers at Compass Housing Alliance, Plymouth Housing, and Low Income Housing Institute.

I was also a housing case manager at Plymouth Housing for several years, helping high vulnerability folks access services and maintain their housing.

I'm here to speak in support of maintaining critical funding for adjusting the human service contracts that are commiserate with inflation that is impacting our organization.

Even before inflation spiked in the COVID-19 pandemic, pay for this type of work was not near enough to make ends meet, let alone set aside money for savings or retirement.

It is not only unfair, but truly unethical to ask these workers to be martyred.

Turnover in this sector is extremely high and it isn't because people want to leave.

They simply cannot continue to shoulder the cost of the work as their own well-being and we as a city cannot continue to exploit their dedication and compassion.

I urge the council to support recommendations made by the Seattle Human Services Coalition to continue to fund the services that community members

Thank you so much.

Please send in the rest of your comments.

And then the last three speakers on this list, and we'll go back to the room, are Andrew Kittle, Jacob Shearer, and Tomasina Schmidt.

Good morning, Andrew.

Good morning.

Can you hear me?

Yes, I can.

Can you hear me?

Yeah, oh, great.

My name is Andrew Kittle, and I live in South Seattle.

I am testifying about funding for protected bike lanes, traffic calming, and home zones.

A friend was hit by a car while biking and got a concussion.

Another friend was hit while biking and killed.

My daughter's sweetheart was hit and has permanent damage to their spine.

I could go on.

I get postings when cars hit pedestrians and bikes in Seattle.

A pedestrian was killed on Friday on Rainier Avenue.

Another person injured down here over the weekend.

This is unacceptable.

We deserve safe streets.

This violence is preventable.

Secretary Buttigieg writes, we know it's preventable because bold cities in the U.S. have achieved tremendous reductions in roadway deaths.

Those cities have taken actions like Council Member Morales proposes.

Seattle must stop shirking its duty to protect us.

It's time to join those bold cities.

Begin by funding these budget items.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Andrew, followed by Jacob.

Good morning, Andrew.

Good morning, Andrew.

I don't see Andrew on here.

Did we just hear Andrew?

Okay, Jacob.

Good morning, Jacob.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Jacob Shear.

I'm an organizer for Real Change.

I'm calling in support today of the demands of the 2023 Solidarity Budget, as well as budget amendments put forward by Council Member Morales, specifically amendments OSE-001-A for municipal housing, This amendment will ensure that once the social housing developer created by initiative 135 passes in February, it will be set up to achieve its full potential in combating houselessness, displacement, and housing affordability in Seattle.

And it will ensure that urgently needed social housing is given the staffing and people power necessary to be successful.

Also calling in support of amendments OSC-001A and 002A, which will create a green building apprentice training program to help prepare and expand our workforce need to create the type of climate resilient housing included in Initiative 135 including passive house certification and also to help trade union members get certified at these technologies and ensure that labor and green building are working in harmony to combat our climate crisis and housing crisis together.

So thank you.

Hope you'll support.

Okay thanks so much.

And the last person on this list is Tomasina.

Good morning Tomasina.

Good morning.

My name is Tomasina Schmidt and I'm the Executive Director for Seattle Neighborhood Group.

We are a local nonprofit focused on community safety and crime prevention.

We have two funding requests for next year's budget.

First, we'd like to ask the council to restore a proposed $125,000 funding cut to our safe communities contract.

Second, we'd like to ask for increased funding for our Rainier Beach, a beautiful safe place for youth contract.

We have held both of these contracts with the city for over a decade.

Both of these contracts are community led place-based violence and crime prevention programs that have been researched and evaluated by professional criminologists.

These programs have made significant impacts in the community and have helped with reducing violence and crime.

I know that council members are very busy right now and having to make difficult decisions, but I welcome an opportunity to talk with each of you in greater detail about these two funding proposals.

Thank you for your support and consideration.

I yield my time.

Thank you so much.

We're going to go back to the folks in the room.

Thanks for your patience, everyone.

Again, if there is the need for interpreter, we'll do two minutes on the clock, but otherwise, everyone has one minute.

Amy Chen Lozano, followed by Adam King and Gary Lee.

Good morning.

Good morning, Amy.

Good morning.

My name is Amy Chen Lozano.

I'm a first generation immigrant, and I'm here today with my community.

These elders who have worked all their lives harder than anyone could, and now in their old age, they still have to work to protest, protest for safety, for equity, for basic living standards.

Multiple government agencies have failed the CID, from the city to the county to the state.

Of the 34 homeless shelters in the city of Seattle, more than half are within walking distance of the CID.

The CID, which houses over 1,000 seniors, also has the highest crime rate and the highest homicide rate.

Does that sound right to you?

Would you house your grandparents in that kind of neighborhood?

We want safety.

We want clean streets.

We want our businesses to prosper.

We want our neighborhoods to thrive.

Same as Magnolia, Laurelhurst, Villeridge, Madrona, all of that.

Oh, you have another 10 seconds.

When the chime goes off, that just means you have 10 seconds to wrap it up if you have another sentence you'd like to share.

Okay, go ahead.

Yeah, just one second.

Just another 10 seconds.

In preschool, we teach our kids the cleanup song.

Clean up, clean up, everybody do their share.

Be accountable and clean up this mess.

The current conditions of the CID didn't just happen.

You created these circumstances either intentionally or by willful indifference.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

And again, this, folks, for if you like something, if folks can do this instead of applaud.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay, please go ahead, Adam.

Hello, Seattle City Council.

I'm here to talk about the funding of the CID.

My name is Adam Kang.

I go to Summit Sierra, a high school located in the Chinatown International District, and I'm a junior.

We need security.

Many people I know have been harassed by both the homeless population and the drug abusers.

Even I myself get harassed from time to time when I'm just trying to accompany a friend to get their lunch.

A good friend of mine had her hair pulled by a homeless man on her first day at a summit.

Imagine you're just out of middle school and your first day at a new school and a random grown man pulls your hair on the street before you can even get into your school.

You'd be terrified.

Imagine if that man had more malicious intents.

Maybe I couldn't have met that friend if he had gone further.

Another friend had a man yelling and hurling obscenities, calling them degrading names at her and a group of friends because they told him to stop looking at them.

This is yesterday during lunch.

examples, she said she had so many she couldn't remember all of them.

We need more security because students, mostly girls, feel unsafe with the rampant harassment by the growing population of homeless and drug abusers in Chinatown.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay, so folks, we're gonna go to Gary Lee.

But if someone can help me remind people that we're doing this instead of applause, just to keep it going.

And also when you hear the chime, that's 10 seconds left.

That's just your indication to wrap it up.

And then unfortunately, the microphones will be cut off.

So go ahead.

Thank you for letting me do the PSA.

Thank you so much.

I'm Gary Lee, and the Chinatown International District is the cultural heart of most Asian Americans in King County and the rest of Puget Sound.

The Asian community has endured tremendous challenges during the pandemic, compounded by anti-Asian hate crimes that caused economic fallout, shuttered businesses, increases in break-ins, open-air drug markets, and drug use and vandalism in our neighborhood.

Because of that, the CID only wants to be clean and shiny every morning, including sidewalks and alleys, just like Queen Anne, just like Magnolia, Madison Park and Laurelhurst, for example.

We want to be safe day and night, just like your neighborhoods.

We want to be free of boards on the storefronts, free of wrought iron fences around parking lots, especially with razor wire, free of used needles and used drug paraphernalia in parks and streets.

We are asking that you, that we are taking the greatest burden of homeless shelters and services in the city, far beyond anywhere in the city.

We have over 15 facilities within walking distance of the neighborhood.

Thank you so much.

And feel free to send in the rest of your comments.

Okay, let's keep going.

Betty, followed by Jay.

Betty Lau, followed by Jay.

Yonam Laura.

Good morning, Betty.

Hello, I'm Betty Lau from the John Wah Benevolent Association.

Thank you, Council Members Morales, Herbold, and Lewis for your amendment for two full-time street outreach workers in the CID.

But unfortunately, it's not enough for 44 square blocks and around 300 small businesses.

The CID is the only neighborhood in Seattle that has over 20 shelters around it and a couple inside of it.

And so please at least double the number of the full-time outreach street, outreach street workers in the CID, thank you.

Thank you so much.

And the next person is Jay, followed by Ryan.

Good morning, my name is Jay Yanomura.

I'm a resident of Chinatown and a participant in the Seattle Chinatown Block Watch.

I'm here to support the lead and co-lead request for funding.

I understand there is a very large shortfall in the budget.

When our family has a shortfall in the budget, we ask ourselves, is this a want or a need?

Wants are asked by good people to make their lives better in Seattle, a better place to live.

Needs are needed from people that are desperate for the basic needs, safety, security, shelter.

That's what LEAD and COLEAD will provide the residents of Chinatown.

So when you are bombarded by all these requests for things that perhaps can be moved forward down the road, look at what we need today.

Come to Chinatown and walk with us and ask, is this acceptable, the situation we're in?

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And let's see, where are we at?

Ryan Ingham.

Peggy.

Okay, Ryan, followed by Peggy hooks and then Frank.

Good morning.

Good morning Council, my name is Ryan Ingram, I am a relatively new resident of Nicholsville Central District, as of the end of May this year, although I've only been involved in this tiny home movement for a short time since it started in pink tense years ago, I'm very passionate about what it stands for and how important it is for Seattle's unhoused population, moving forward into the future.

But in order to continue moving forward, we absolutely must be included in this budget.

We also support and are excited about the solidarity budget.

And again, we don't just need this now, but for our ability to move, to help house the homeless in the future.

And I've got a few seconds left and I'd like to point out the rest of our group here in pink.

This started again years ago in pink tents.

And we're here in representation in pink shirts today to remind you where we've come from, where we are now and where we're going.

And we need your help to do so.

and we're here in representation in church because it's really hard to sweep something that's bright and vibrant under the rug.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Peggy, followed by Uncle Frank Yergin and then Beth Kuh.

Good morning, Peggy.

Good morning, my name is Peggy hosts and I'm an equals well founder and a volunteer.

First let me say that Nicholsville supports the solidarity budget.

Also we oppose any money being spent on sweeps when there's nowhere for people to go on September 24 Nicholsville held a party to celebrate its 14th anniversary.

While we're glad there are low barrier villages, we agree with the research and Mark Jones who stated that the primary cause of homelessness is economic.

It stands to reason then logically that most of these villages should be self-managed.

Just this week, we began receiving the funds earmarked for villages like ours from last year's budget, just this week.

While we appreciate the financial support, it shouldn't be this hard.

We should not have to plead for the kind of village you yourself would want to live in.

Keep Nicholsville and other member-led organizations like SHARE in the budget.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And Frank Iragon is up next.

Hi, my name is Beth Ku.

So can I have two minutes, one minute to translate to my neighbors?

Oh, I understand what you're asking.

You want to translate what Frank is saying to the community?

Pardon?

You're trying to translate what Frank is saying to the community.

No, no, no.

I speak English, and then I translate for myself.

Oh, sure.

But we have up next a Frank Iragon, unless...

What's your name?

Oh, am I next?

Yes, sorry.

Okay, thank you, Teresa.

That's okay, and we'll have you sign up, okay?

I'm sorry, forgot.

We'll have you sign up, no problem.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, or good morning, Frank.

Good to see you.

Thank you, Teresa.

When a council member is more concerned about the police investigating a bag of poop thrown on her front yard than public safety in a Chinatown international district, we got a problem.

especially when human waste is found every day in the doorways, alleyways, and sidewalks in the CID.

When $2 million is proposed for a skate park and not one cent for street lighting, security cameras, and economic recovery in the CID, we got a problem.

The CID has suffered far too long from the city's benign neglect.

We want equity in the budgeting process to save the CID, and we want it now.

There is no solidarity budget if you don't fund us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Frank.

Okay, the next person is Beth, followed by Lillian Hansel.

Beth Khoo.

I'm sorry, Beth, for the misunderstanding.

Okay, please go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'm Beth Khoo, and I would like to ask all the council members and governor, if your front yard and back yard got the encampment and then your front sidewalk always got homeless walking around.

At the end of the street, you got a shelter.

And then when you go out for a walk or exercise, someone might slap on your face and punch your nose, push on you on the floor.

Anything could happen.

It's very dangerous.

All the business and my neighbors, everyone is so worried when we go out for shopping.

In every minute, we might get attacked.

So I would like to ask you if you have this kind of a situation around your house, around your community, do you feel comfortable?

So we would like to ask you the funding as Tanya mentioned that we need that to recover, to help our neighborhood.

not only clean, the drug issue, the mental people, really help them, but not give us any impact.

Okay, your one minute's up.

Did you need to translate?

Yeah, thank you.

I just told everyone, I asked their officials, if your front yard and back yard have homeless houses, or street customers, The most important, we need safety.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And then Lillian Hansel will be the last person on this page.

Lillian, good morning.

I almost said good afternoon.

We are still in the morning.

Good morning, my name is Lillian Hansel, program manager for Angeline's Day Center, excuse me, for homeless women of the YWCA, Seattle, King, Snohomish County, and a member of the Seattle Human Services Coalition.

Angeline's Day Center provides basic daytime services for homeless women and nighttime shelter to our most vulnerable homeless population in downtown Seattle.

As a human service provider on 3rd Avenue in downtown Seattle, I see firsthand the need for homeless services and the continuation of strategies that really work.

Angelines has shown that providing low barrier services to homeless women creates a trusting and relationship that allows staff to support women out of homelessness by accessing services to address behavioral health, substance abuse issues, become gainfully employed and obtain permanent housing.

With the increase in our expenses, I'm asking you for you to support the Seattle Human Services Coalition budget along with the 7.6

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

OK, wonderful.

We're going to go back to the folks here on line.

Thanks, everybody, for your patience.

I see.

Sorry, Adam, do you happen to see the list in front of you?

Could you call the first three names if you do?

One second for folks online.

We are just opening back up the sheet here.

I believe our next online remote speaker is Michael Seaworth, followed by Chloe Gale.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk.

Good morning, Michael.

Good morning, Council Member.

This is Michael Seirath.

I'm the Executive Director of Southeast Effective Development, or SEED.

I want to thank Council Members Herbold, Mosqueda, and Strauss for introducing a co-sponsoring amendment, OH-300-A-001.

This amendment falls on the heels of a critical investment the City Council made last year to support resident services and affordable housing developers.

Here at SEED, these funds allowed us to restart resident services, helping our neighbors as the community was coming out of COVID.

We were able to provide culturally appropriate health care, back to school supplies, and connections to employment, all to help our residents and neighbors thrive.

This amendment further refines last year's investment by directing the Office of Housing to specifically explore how these resident services can be incorporated into the housing levy renewal.

This is an essential bridge, and we thank you for your continued leadership.

Thank you, Michael.

Chloe Gale followed by, oh man, Audra Lemon.

Good morning, Chloe.

Hi, good morning.

Thanks for having me.

My name is Chloe Gale.

I'm a vice president for policy at Evergreen Treatment Services and for 20 years at the REACH program.

And we're members of the Coalition on Homelessness.

I'm here today to speak about the geographic neighborhood-based homeless response model proposed by the mayor's office.

I'm here to support their solutions beyond encampment removals which creates a geographic model which I've heard from the mayor's office and HSD staff speak to.

I thank Council Member Mosqueda for her work to advance this approach.

Several neighborhoods including Soto, Ballard, the U District and Friends of the Waterfront have been able to commit community dollars to support outreach and funds for unsheltered neighbors but many others as you've heard including Little Saigon and Georgetown

have wanted to work to help work with us to build solutions that are encampment displacements to move people away, but really solve problems.

Hygiene, sanitation and public safety responses are critical for all of our community members.

My reach.

I'm sorry that the timing cut off.

Please do Chloe send in the rest of your comments.

Thank you so much.

Next we'll hear from Andra Lemon and then Steve Daschle.

Good morning, Council.

My name is Audra Lehman.

I'm the Senior Director of Engagement and Workforce Services at Youth Care.

I'm here in partnership with many on this call in strong support of the full inflation adjustment to City Human Services contracts, and in support of Council Members Morales, Peterson, and Lewis's amendment to backfill federal funds for shelter and day centers, where I'll focus my time today.

The City funding at stake supports Youth Care's three engagement centers in the U District and South Lake Union and in Rainier Beach.

Collectively, serve over 500 young people experiencing homelessness each year.

We provide meals case management workforce navigation mental health supports clinic services and more.

In particular our South Seattle Youth Center operates on a 24 hour model and additionally provides 20 overnight shelter beds.

Every single night these beds are needed.

Last night each of these 20 beds was assigned to a young person in our community.

I'll repeat that.

Last night there was a wait list for young people in Rainier Beach to find a safe place to sleep I urge you to continue this funding to ensure that we may continue to provide these critical services.

Thanks for your time.

Thanks for your time.

The next person is Steve followed by Vendrana Durgavuk Boruk.

Good morning Steve.

Good morning council members and fellow community activists.

I'm Steve Daschle the executive director of Southwest Youth and Family Services and co-chair of the Seattle Human Services Coalition.

I'm here today to thank you for your support of our recommendations to fully fund the essential holistic human services our organizations provide.

We are grateful for the enthusiastic support many of you have expressed as you sponsored the amendments to Mayor Harrell's budget that are necessary for us to continue to be able to serve your constituents all over Seattle.

I want to reiterate that every recommendation in our packet is essential.

Our communities are still reeling from the impact of COVID and historic inflation increases.

It is paramount that current successful community health and human services funding is sustained with true inflation adjustments that the necessary services our organizations provide are sustained.

We thank you for your support of this.

Thank you so much.

The next person is Vandrana followed by Chris Woodward.

Good morning Vandrana.

Good morning.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Adrona Drakovic with the Nonprofit Sound Generations and also a member of Seattle Human Services Coalition, here to speak today in favor of fully funding human services and the need for the full 7.6% inflation adjustment.

We thank council members Mosqueda and Herbold for sponsoring the companion amendments for this inflation adjustment.

And we thank all the rest of the council members for their support in this endeavor.

As we know, human service providers are significantly underpaid for the difficult work we do.

We end up being at capacity, burned out, and that results in understaffing and large turnover, leaving a lot of gaps in services we provide to those who need them most, like our East African low-income seniors or other BIPOC seniors that Sound Generation serve and many of our other folks who are underserved in the community.

We need continued sustained funding, and especially at times where programs and services and expenses have soared, and we have to match the rising costs and maintain these needed services.

Thank you so much.

The next person is Chris, followed by Jamie Rose Pinilla O'Day.

Good morning, Chris.

Good morning Councilmembers, my name is Chris Woodward, I'm the Community Development Director with the Alliance for Pioneer Square.

I'm providing comment today to outline the Alliance's support for several budget amendments.

These amendments include addressing the budget shortfall from the LEAD program by supporting funding to guarantee service levels desired by the community, and that's amendment number 038A001.

The second amendment is piloting a program to fund addiction treatment through HSB, as proposed by Councilmember Nelson.

And the third is historic South downtown outreach and engagement efforts funded to the Department of Neighborhoods.

And that's amendment number DLN 001 a 2023. And finally, we recommend the council consider allocating funds toward infrastructure management, including an investment in s.areaways program, which has a high impact in Pioneer Square.

The Alliance looks forward to engaging with the council throughout the remainder of the budget process.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Chris, followed by, excuse me, that was Chris.

Jamie Rose, followed by Becca Lanasa.

Jamie Rose?

Just star six, Jamie Rose.

And that'll take you off mute.

Let's see star six one more time.

Okay, let's see Becca.

Becca, could you go star six?

Jamie, I think I saw you.

There we go, Jamie.

You're off mute now.

Go ahead.

Can you hear me okay?

Yeah, thank you.

Great.

Sorry about that.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Jamie Rose.

I'm the program manager of Youth Cares Youth Build, a carpentry-based and job readiness pre-apprenticeship program for housing and housing insecure young adults.

The low wages that human services receive greatly impacts our livelihood and well-being.

Human service workers combat immediate and systemic issues such as poverty homelessness and racism that threaten the safety of our city and the people that live in it.

We need to be able to care for ourselves and support ourselves to be able to effectively provide the services that our community direly needs.

High turnover rates due to low pay and emotional burden of social services directly impacts the youth with whom we work.

Trust building with clients is essential to be able to provide proper services and this high turnover rate impacts the effectiveness, protecting and supporting our clients and the safety of our city.

Social service providers need wages to reflect inflation, the strenuous work we do, the dedication and expertise we offer the community.

Oh, was that a full minute?

Oh, I'm so sorry.

I know you had more to say.

Let's ask you to go ahead and send in the rest of your comments, please.

And apologies, folks, we are going to try and get through the remaining, you know, 60 or so folks here.

And we want to extend our time when we need to.

So please send in the rest of your comments, Jamie Rose, Becca, followed by Marsha Wright, Soika, and then we'll move to Lucinda and then we'll move to the folks in the room.

So Becca, good morning.

Good morning, Council.

Can you hear me?

I can.

Thank you.

Great.

My name is Becca Lanasa.

I work at Youth Care as the Director of the Orion Center.

I'm expressing support this morning for Councilmember Morales, Peterson, and Lewis's amendment to backfill federal funds for shelter and day centers.

We stand with the 20 programs across 12 agencies that would be affected by this loss of funding.

Youth Care operates three of those 20 programs, including a day center in South Lake Union, which is the program I lead.

I see firsthand the young people whose needs are met through these funds.

We provide a range of services including housing navigation, case management, free medical care, hygiene services, education, workforce development, behavioral health supports, all crucial elements in a young person's stability and journey to exit homelessness.

The number of youth accessing services at our centers is on the rise.

Loss of funding would lead to a reduction of our services at a time when the needs of the community are only increasing.

We ask you to continue to ensure that our agencies can sustain the critical work of supporting young people.

Thank you.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

And please go ahead.

It looks like we have Marsha Teda.

Good morning, Council.

Good morning, Chair Mosqueda.

This is Marsha Royce-Buecka, Executive Director of Family Works in District 4, and testifying today in solidarity with Seattle Human Services Coalition.

and asking for the council to fully restore the 7.6% inflation adjustment that's so greatly needed by the human services sector to keep services at level.

I'd like to thank council members Mosqueda and Herbold for their companion amendments in support of this inflation adjustment.

In this high inflation economy, we need to ensure that food banks, domestic violence organizations, homelessness shelters, and senior centers have the resources to respond to our most marginalized residents.

Asking underpaid workers and under-resourced residents to withstand another cut is unconscionable and exploitative.

Thank you so much for considering this.

Thank you so much.

And the last person, and then we'll go back to folks in the room, is Lucinda.

Good morning, Lucinda.

Just star six to unmute.

Here we go.

Hi, my name is Lucinda Stroud, and I'm a certified nursing assistant in District 7 I appreciate the Council President's comments at the start about the importance of aligning dedicated funds with their designated purposes.

The Jump Start Fund was created as a progressive funding stream specifically to grant ongoing revenue to resolving the long neglected root causes of race and income based health disparities in Seattle through affordable housing social services Green New Deal and the equitable development initiative.

The council should not enact any of the rates on the jumpstart fund that the mayor has proposed.

Additionally the Office of Labor Standards should be prioritized for receiving funds above the Seattle Police Department.

Its budget is barely a quarter of SPP's overtime budget and wage theft is an insidious social evil that most impacts low income and non-white workers with a much wider and dangerous impact than property crime.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, excellent.

Well, there is shows of support in the room just for folks who are on the line.

I want to let you know that we are going to keep going here for people in the room with the last 10 people I have present.

Danielle Alvarado, Jake Laundrie and Davis Obenga.

Good morning, Danielle.

Morning.

My name is Danielle Verado, I'm the Executive Director of Fair Work Center and Working Washington and also a member of the Labor Standards Advisory Committee.

I'm here to express our strong support for the amendment to increase funding for the Office of Labor Standards.

Since our founding, we have worked with OLS through the COEF program, where we have seen OLS's impact firsthand.

Passing a new law is just the first step.

Strong enforcement is just as essential.

Over the past several years, OLS has recovered tens of millions of dollars, stopped employer retaliation, and helped workers across industries who can now more confidently use their sick time, predict their hours, and speak up on the job.

That work has been possible because of OLS's partnership with organizations like ours.

At the same time, we know that OLS's work has grown substantially.

With inadequate resources, workers will lose confidence in our protections and businesses will have more unfair competition.

Seattle cannot thrive if its workers do not.

Times like these are precisely when we need bold leadership to ensure that essential services can meet community need and the amendment proposed will provide critical services to implement new standards and increase enforcement.

We urge you to support it.

Thank you so much.

The next person is Jake, followed by Davis Obenga.

Good morning, Jake Laundrie.

Morning.

Thanks, Council.

Hi, I'm Jake Laundrie.

I've been delivering for Uber Eats since they first started in Seattle, and I'm here with Working Washington today.

I broadly support the people's budget, but I am calling on Council today to help us gig workers in two specific ways.

First to extend hazard pay at least until pay up goes into effect in 2024. Right now hazard pay accounts for roughly half of Seattle gig drivers earnings and it is unacceptable that the mayor is seeking to slash our pay below minimum wage just before and expected fall and winter surge in COVID cases.

Second, to make sure there is money in the budget for OLS to protect these earnings by supporting the proposed amendment to increase OLS's funding for the upcoming year.

I have received multiple settlements from OLS already when they've had to chase these companies down for stealing our earnings.

and OLS is having a real impact.

Just last month they reached a 3.3 million dollar settlement.

We need the council to support OLS and the enforcement Seattle workers need and deserve long term by increasing funding to it and passing the proposed budget amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

And David, Davis Obenga followed by Ma Trinidad Hernandez Ontiveros.

Good morning.

Davis.

Yes.

Good morning, my name is Davis Obenga, and I'm a full-time gig worker and part of the Pay Up campaign.

I'm here to express my support for increased funding for the Office of Labor Standards.

Council members, please remember that you are here to fight on behalf of working class and ordinary people.

The Office of Labor Standards must be adequately funded because it advocates on behalf of working class people.

The Office of Labor Standards has already shown that it can make a big impact helping people get their stolen wages back and standing up against retaliation from all the various gig companies.

But there are still more workers who need support.

As the working class and poor continue to take hits from all angles, a recession is being broadcast for the next year.

We need to make companies pay us what we are owed.

To that end, I ask you, council members, to increase funding for the Office of Labor Standards by passing the proposed amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next, we have Matt Renedad Hernandez.

Followed by Ryan Ingraham.

We're going to do two minutes, one minute for the testimony and one minute for interpretation.

La Oficina de Normas Laborales nos ha ayudado asegurándose que estas empresas nos paguen adecuadamente.

He estado trabajando para esta aplicación durante tres años y siempre trabajo en el área del norte de Seattle.

porque el pago es más alto que en el resto del estado o de las áreas de Washington.

Todas las demás áreas son demasiado bajas, incluso a la mitad.

Nosotros, los trabajadores de concierto, necesitamos el pago de riesgo y un salario justo.

Esperábamos que las empresas fueran honestas, pero lamentablemente no hemos visto esto en este caso.

se necesitaba la aplicación para que paguen y para que estos pagos sean transparentes.

Necesitamos que Hazard Pay continúe y garantice que el Consejo Municipal financie completamente la aplicación de nuestros derechos.

Gracias.

Good morning, my name is my opinion is and I work for DoorDash.

We need protection of labor standards to protect us from the abuses that currently exist against gig workers.

OLS has helped us by making sure these companies pay us properly.

I have been working for this app for three years and always work in North Seattle, because the pay is higher than the rest of Washington.

All other areas are low, even up to half as low.

Gig workers need hazard pay and a fair salary.

We expected that companies would be honest, but sadly, we have seen this is not the case.

Enforcement was needed to make them pay and to make these payments that we receive transparent.

We need hazard pay to continue and to ensure the City Council fully funds enforcement of our rights.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Gracias.

Mil gracias.

Okay.

The next person is Ryan followed by, oh, Frank already spoke.

Okay.

The next person after that will be John Sims.

Good morning to Ryan.

Ryan Ingram.

Oh, you already spoke?

I'm sorry about that.

I just want to keep hearing from you.

And Frank Urtugon also spoke.

How about John?

John Sims?

All right.

Good morning, John.

I just want to say good morning to everybody.

Oh, wait one second.

Could you pull the microphone just a little bit closer to you?

Can you hear me now?

Oh, now that's good.

Yes, let's do that.

Okay, my name is John Sims.

I live in this Nicholsville, CD.

I have lived in Nicholsville, CD for a year now.

And in the year that I've been there and the support that I've gotten from them, I've been able to take care of my mental health, my physical health, as well as, you know, taking care of stuff for my financial health.

You know, living in Nickelsville has been just wonderful for me.

You know, it's been the answer to my problems and my issues.

So that's why I feel that it's imperative that we keep Nickelsville's self-managing processes and support in the budget to continue to help people like myself to stabilize and become productive members of society.

Also, I want to say that we support the Solidarity Budget.

And in closing, I want to say that everybody on the planet counts.

So anyway, you guys have a good day.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

OK.

And then the last three people that I have listed to sign up to speak in person are Malakai Kane, Albertis Brooke Jr., and Ethan Ling.

Good morning to everyone.

Malakai.

Good morning.

I'm Malachi.

A little closer.

There we are.

Yeah, that's great.

Is that good?

Yeah, that's good.

All right.

Good morning.

I'm Malachi Kane, Executive Director of Africatown International.

We operate the Centralized Diversion Fund.

And for the past five years, we've provided direct housing payments.

to agencies, families, individuals, landlords, to help keep working families afloat.

The last two years, our funding has been sourced from city, state, and federal funds, mainly from the pandemic funding.

We're here to support the housing amendments proposed by Council Members Morales, Peterson, and Lewis.

and urge all concerned parties to renew or replace the coronavirus local fiscal recovery funding, which has been omitted from the current budget proposal.

Just a reminder, low-income households have not recovered from the pandemic.

There has not been a significant increase in wages to address inflation.

Community-based landlords who serve our families received little or no support during the pandemic.

They're still in trouble.

We must stabilize households against rising living costs and prevent potential evictions.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay, and Albertis, followed by Heason.

Albertis, I'm not sure.

Is there anybody else in the room who signed up for public testimony that would like to speak?

Going once.

I see some familiar faces.

We appreciate you being here.

We, I think, have gotten through everybody in the room, so thank you all.

I'm going to go back to the list of folks who have signed up for public comment online here.

Madam Clerk, could you also read the first three speakers for me as I get that teed up?

The next three.

Sorry, Madam Clerk.

No problem.

Thank you.

I had pulled out the spreadsheet onto a different area here.

So thanks, everybody, for your patience online.

We have about 40 more people to speak.

So I'm going to at this point, since our time was going to expire at 1115, I'm going to just ask the community council members present here.

If there's no objection, today's public comment will be extended to hear from the remainder of the people who'd like to provide public comment virtually.

Hearing no objection, The public comment will continue.

Thank you so much, everyone.

Delina Otherbull followed by Edwin Lido and Victor Liu.

Good morning, Delina.

Delina, I see you're unmuted.

Good morning.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Delina Otherbull, and I'm here today to voice my support for Amendment HSD-022A, which adds $1.5 million for survivor-driven advocacy services to survivors of gender-based violence.

I currently serve as the Deputy Director of New Beginnings, a Seattle-based domestic violence service provider, and the county's DV-HOPE line.

Funding for survivor-driven advocacy services across Seattle are not adequate to meet the acute and complex needs of survivors especially BIPOC survivors, LGBTQ survivors, and survivors experiencing systemic barriers.

In the last year, our DV Hope line took in 11,000 calls and chats, resulting in centralized referrals to over 200 community partners from survivors seeking services.

It is important to have meaningful investments and services for survivors of gender-based violence so that they can serve survivors in safe and meaningful ways.

I ask you to support the full 7.6 inflation.

Thank you very much.

The next person is Delina and then followed by Edwin Lindo.

Good morning, Delina.

Deliana.

Deliana, I'm sorry about that.

I don't see her.

She just spoke.

Edwin, please go ahead.

Thank you.

Edwin Lindo, co-founder of Estelitas Library and co-founder of North Star Cycling and just calling to advocate for the prioritization of the EDI, Equitable Development Initiative.

Funding that is absolutely necessary has proven to be effective in keeping cultural spaces and developing housing.

In addition, that supporting the solidarity fund or sorry, the solidarity budget and the idea that we would have something like ShotSpotter or our ticket folks going into the police department begs the question of, what else are the police gonna be doing that should actually just be in the community?

And we just, we can't allow it anymore.

And at the end, taking a million dollars away from EDI is a question of where our priorities lie.

And I think we need to focus on letting our communities do the work they're good at and having the city support that work.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Victor followed by Heidi Ness.

Good morning, Victor.

Good morning, my name is Victor Liu.

For this context, I use he, him, his pronouns.

The item I want to comment is to restore funding for LEAD program.

Without restoring LEAD program, it will have direct impact on the service delivery for COLEAD Just Care program.

The program has been very effective.

It's culturally responsible trauma-informed care approach that addresses behavior, health, and social determinants of health for unhoused homeless individuals who are mostly BIPOC and LGBTQ individuals.

There has been support also from the Chinatown International District, thanks to Lisa Sai Kong, to expand the COLEAD Just Care program in this neighborhood safety plan.

COLEAD Just Care addresses behavioral health.

COLEAD Just Care is racial justice.

COLEAD Just Care is racial equity.

Without restoring funding for LEAD, it would disrupt possibly dismantle the safety net that COLEAD Just Care has created to enhance public safety for the most impacted community members, including those who reside in Chinatown International District.

protect promote and preserve equity and social justice for our unharmed and sheltered homeless individuals who continue to experience racism and experience institutional barriers.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you very much for your time.

Heidi followed by Coco Weber.

Good morning council members.

I'm Heidi Neff with Catholic Community Services a member of the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness.

I'm asking you to follow through on commitments for a 7.6 percent inflation adjustment on human services.

This is essential just to keep up with costs including wage increases to help staff manage the escalating cost of living.

And keeping up with inflation isn't enough.

Please go further and raise funding for equitable wages so we can recruit train and sustain an experienced workforce for this essential work.

Finally, we request that the city fund $9.4 million for all 20 shelters that were funded with federal COVID relief dollars through KCRHA.

The CCS Inn and Bunny Wilburn moved 78 clients into permanent housing this year so far.

These two shelters face a $650,000 shortfall.

We could face closing doors to the nearly 100 people now being served.

Our communities are counting on you to provide the needed funding

Thank you very much.

Please send in the rest of your comments as well.

Coco.

Followed by good morning.

Good morning, followed by Michael Daniel.

Good morning, Coco.

Good morning, Council.

My name is Coco and I'm a return educator in District 3. I'm calling on the Council to fully fund the solidarity budget and keep parking services out of SPD.

Regarding safer streets, I've been hit by a car as a jogger.

I've been hit as a driver.

I've been driven off the road as a cyclist.

I've been stranded on the side of the road late at night when my car wouldn't start.

The police didn't make me safer in any of these situations.

This year, a young black college student in EMT, Jordan Shelley, was killed when his car stalled on the Ship Canal Bridge.

He put the hood up to his car and was hit and thrown off the bridge.

Since then, there have been many traffic-related deaths in pedestrians and cyclists, many in the South End.

The police didn't make us safer.

Of course, I want us to see social housing and human services funded over the police, who never have kept me safe.

There are cities where traffic and pedestrian support services operate outside of the police department.

Cities that have rerouted funds from punitive police to train experts in emergency roadside support and infrastructure and community education that can actually save lives.

Please abolish the cop in your head and reimagine community safety, including traffic services and fully fund the solidarity budget.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Michael followed by Jones.

Good morning.

Excuse me.

Good morning, Michelle Daniel.

And Michelle, it looks like you're still on mute.

Star six unmute please.

Star six, okay.

We'll keep you up there, Michelle, star six.

And Charse, do you want to push star six and begin your public testimony?

Charse?

Here we go.

Good morning.

Hello, council members.

Yeah, my name is Sharif Jones Pegas.

I'm the Early Learning Services Director with Child Care Resources.

I'm here to ask that the city's budget include human services contracts that reflect the reality of inflation and the value of the work that we do.

At Child Care Resources we're entrusted with the Seattle Taxpayer Fund to help families access child care especially families experiencing homelessness.

We're committed to supporting our brilliant staff in all they do to support Black Indigenous and other families of color immigrants refugees and families in crisis children experiencing trauma.

The 1.2% inflation adjustment in the mayor Harold budget is unacceptable.

We ask that this be changed to the 7.6% to keep up with the inflation as a bare minimum.

We know that the council values our work.

You've made meaningful investments to support childcare industry in crisis and ensure that these most harmed by oppression have access to quality childcare.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And we'll try Michelle again.

Michelle Daniels, star six to unmute, followed by Dawn Shepherd.

Good morning, Michelle, star six.

All right, I'm going to move over to Dawn.

Dawn, I see you're unmuted.

Please go ahead.

Good morning, city council members.

My name is Dawn Shepherd, program manager for REACH, and we are a member of the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness.

I've spent time in the field outreaching, problem solving with businesses and educating the community with many of you.

The single most important thing in providing effective support services to our unsheltered neighbors is the skill, experience, and expertise of the essential frontline staff that's doing this difficult, traumatizing work.

The biggest challenge we face is the inability to provide a livable wage free from financial insecurity of our own.

Many county contracts require employees to be paid a minimum salary that is well above those provided to social service agencies.

Inflation affects those of us living close to the poverty line most.

As a manager my credit card debt has doubled this year just keeping up with food and gas prices.

Seattle made a commitment to keeping us from falling further behind than we already are.

Please uphold that promise by minimum the 7.6 percent cost of living wage increase we both need and deserve.

Thank you.

I concede my time.

Thank you very much.

The next person is I'm going to try Michelle.

Michelle star 6 unmute.

Okay I see you're still muted.

Let's go to Scout.

Kelly Hunn, followed by Aaliyah Taylor.

Scout, good morning.

Hello, council.

Hi, I am Scout Killian, my pronouns are they, them, and I'm a renter in district six.

I support the solidarity budget and have concerns about the mayor's proposed budget.

It is absolutely wrong to maintain a bloated police budget, and the council should not support the hiring and retention bonuses for cops or new cop tech.

Defund SPD and allocate funds to affordable housing, Vision Zero, and the Green New Deal.

do not support the misuse of jumpstart funds and pay cuts to the human service providers in light of a contracting economy, rising houselessness, and high inflation.

We need a budget for the people, not for cops and not for profit.

I also stand with those advocating for the South Beacon Hill Resilience Hub.

We need to decarbonize immediately for a clean and livable future for all.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Aaliyah Taylor, followed by Jesse Friedman.

Good morning, Aaliyah.

Hi, my name is Aaliyah Taylor.

Good morning.

I need to stop A-L-L-E-A-H and I'm here today to voice my support for Amendment HSD-022A, which adds $1.5 million for survivor-driven advocacy services to survivors of gender-based violence.

I'm a domestic violence survivor and advocate.

I've worked alongside local programs to improve funding, laws, and policies in regards to domestic violence here in Washington State.

I was almost killed by my ex-boyfriend, a former NFL Seahawks player, Chad Willer, healing from such a violent attack.

It's such a grueling process.

Surgery for my broken arm, months of physical therapy, and trying to navigate the court process for over a year now.

He has violated the protection order three times.

But my story is not rare.

Over 60 women have been murdered due to domestic violence since 2020 in Washington state.

Survivors of violent crimes lack safe housing, access to advocates that can help them navigate through the court system, health care to heal broken arms, and improve their mental health after possibly being murdered.

And I care deeply about my community and especially the vulnerable BIPOC survivors,

Thank you.

Please send in the rest of your comments.

Jessie followed by Emma Ray and then Iris Antman.

Good morning, Jessie.

Good morning, Chair Mosqueda and Council Members.

My name is Jessie Friedman and I'm the Policy Director at Youth Care.

You've heard from my colleagues today about the importance of engagement centers and of staff wages, and I'm here to tell you we need both.

We stand with our 12 organizational partners who would be affected by the funding cliff facing so many of our city's essential day and shelter services.

Critically, we also stand with our staff without whom there are no services.

Thank you to council members Mosqueda, Herbold, and Lewis for co-sponsoring the full 7.6% inflation adjustment.

And thank you to council members Morales, Lewis, and Peterson for the amendment that would backfill federal funding for emergency services around the city.

As you conduct your final budget deliberations, I ask that you prioritize both of these investments to ensure that our vulnerable community members and those who serve them have the support needed to stabilize our city.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And just want to let Michelle know, Michelle, we are going to keep you on the screen.

If you can hit star six, we'll come back to you, but it looks like you're still muted.

So we're going to go next to Emma Ray.

Good morning council members.

My name is Emma Ray and I'm a graduate student at University of Washington here to speak about the budget.

I am currently pursuing my master's of social work and planning to dedicate my career to human services.

The recent budget proposal from the mayor is very concerning and it does not reflect an investment in public safety or the well-being of our citizens.

Investing in quality human services is essential to making sure that both our citizens are getting the services they need and workers are getting paid living wages.

COVID showed us that no one is immune to economic or health crisis and we are all one event away from needing help too.

I want to be sure that as an advocate for the people of Seattle and a professional entering the field my city is progressing.

With an inflation as a growing problem we cannot afford to cap human service contracts at 4% and we insist that the 2019 ordinance of a 7.6 increase be fulfilled.

Thank you for your time and investment in the health of our city.

Thank you very much.

And Iris Antman followed by Mike Schwartz.

Good morning, Iris.

Iris.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Iris Antman and I'm voicing support for amendment OSC-003-A from council members Tammy Morales, Andrew Lewis, and Lisa Herbold to fully fund the South Beacon Hill Resilience Hub on the campus of Bethany United Church of Christ, a project spearheaded by Green Buildings Now.

The Resilience Hub, their pilot project, has installed a solar power array with battery storage through funds from Seattle City Light Screen Up program and has completed an energy audit.

The Green Buildings Now fund is planning for weatherization of all hub buildings and replacement of old oil and gas equipment with fossil-free systems.

This amendment would fully fund the build-out of the resilience hub that could provide shelter for community members during extreme weather events and other emergencies.

The project decarbonization and environmental justice and demonstrates a project that can be scaled around our city to support sustainable and resilient community spaces.

Please fully fund this amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next, we have Mike, followed by Gloria Hatcher-Mayes.

I believe Michelle McDaniel may be online now.

Oh, Michelle, are you on mute?

Off mute.

Well, that's great.

Oh, my apologies.

Hi.

Please go ahead, Michelle.

I apologize for the technology issues.

I'll go right into my testimony.

So good morning, council members.

Michelle McDaniel, the CEO of Crisis Connections.

First, I want to thank Council Member Strauss for both Lewis for sponsoring the renewal of the One Call program to support first responders as they support community members in behavioral health crisis.

I'm also joining you this morning to add my voice in favor of including the fully funded inflation adjustment for human service workers, because they are significantly underpaid and undervalued for the work they do.

And by wide margins, more human service workers are leaving the sector than entering it.

So I want to thank you for all the support but again, encourage you to fund these priorities in the budget.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much for your time.

And we'll go back to Mike.

Mike followed by Gloria Hatcher-Mayes.

Gloria, you're not present.

Please dial in if you'd like to speak.

Good morning, Mike.

Thank you.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Mike Schwartz and I'm regional director of economic advancement at the YWCA of Seattle, King, Snohomish County.

We fully support the budget recommendations of the Seattle Human Services Coalition and support the full amendment of inflation adjustment of 7.6% supported by Council Members Mosqueda and Herbold.

I want to thank Council Members Mosqueda and Herbold for sponsoring this companion amendment for the 7.6 inflation adjustment.

And I want to be clear, agencies like the YWCA need the full 7.6 inflation adjustment in order to stay competitive and strong.

Cuts put programs like our YWCA Day Center for Women and Angelines at risk.

And I think all human service providers and city officials can agree that human service workers are significantly underpaid for the difficult work they do.

As a result, we at the YWCA are losing good people.

I myself have lost staff to government and colleges, as well as the for-profit sector.

And this turnover results in the disruption of relationships between providers and the people we serve.

So please do thank you.

I'll finish my remarks.

And due to the current labor market, we're already struggling with our capacity to hire and recruit new employees.

So not adapting this inflation adjustment will just make

Thank you very much.

I see that Gloria is still not there.

So we're going to go to Nicole Davis, followed by Laney Strick.

Um, sick, sick injure and Lila Corrasco.

Good morning, Nicole.

My name is Nicole Davis, and I have been in the behavioral health provider and leader in King County since 2010.

I would like to thank council members Strauss, Herbold and Lewis for sponsoring funding to continue Crisis Connections First Responder Diversion Program OneCall.

The OneCall program is part of a larger proactive and seamless service system that helps first responders who recognize that jail and emergency departments are often not the best response for individuals in crisis.

OneCall is a dedicated 24-hour line that helps Seattle and King County police officers, firefighters, EMS, and alternative response teams get the help they need in the moment directly from Crisis Connections behavioral health staff to best support people in crisis.

Because of the popularity of this program amongst first responders and behavioral health providers, I am requesting that council members, Nelson, Juarez, Morales, Mosquito, Peterson and so on, join their colleagues to retain funding for this innovative and effective program in the city budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lainey Sickinger.

Lainey.

Good morning.

Chair Mosqueda and committee members, on behalf of more than 1,100 residents and 250 staff at Plymouth Housing, thank you for the opportunity to comment.

My name is Lainey Fickinger and I serve on Plymouth Housing's board.

More than 660 individuals will be sleeping downtown this evening without shelter as the weather gets colder and the rains return.

That's only a fraction of the unsheltered in our city.

The city is pursuing 2,000 units of shelter and permanent supportive housing this year, but we all know that's not enough.

Improvements to this proposal can support more housing in our city.

We ask that council include adjustments to contracts that ensure they keep up with current inflation levels, some as high as 9%.

Please remove the 4% cost of living cap in this proposal.

Please ensure jumpstart funding is used for addressing homelessness and housing as intended.

This budget proposal diverts 85 million from jumpstart to the general fund.

for providers to continue to answer the call and serve thousands of residents.

These changes are necessary.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lilia Carrasco.

Lilia.

Good morning, Chair Mosqueda and Budget Committee members.

My name is Lilia Margarita Carrasco.

I'm speaking on behalf of our BIPOC community to request that you revise the budget to restore human services funding for United Way King County's VITA program.

VITA stands for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, which serves thousands of BIPAC individuals and families each year to provide them with direct cash assistance in the form of tax credits and refunds.

Why is funding critical for us?

The dollars provided helps us pay for equipment, space, translators, and printed material to maintain and expand our free tax preparation services, and the funding means we can continue to serve low-income families, the elderly, and individuals to file their taxes for free.

Act sites also in BIPOC communities increase accessibility to get their taxes done in a friendly community space, and all the money is spent in the communities when

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Camille Gix and Camille will be followed by Tamara Bowman.

Camille.

Hi, good morning.

My name is Camille Gix.

I am a resident of District 3 and a member of the advocacy team at Real Change, as well as a student at the University of Washington.

I'm calling today in support of Council Member Morales' amendments that would create a municipal housing administration team the amendment that would create the Green Tradesperson Apprenticeship Program, as well as the Green Building Certification Program for union members.

If we want to have a Seattle with a future where everyone has access to public goods, housing, and green spaces, as well as a climate resilient city, we need to create climate resilient social housing using green building practices that center community.

We need these amendments in order to ensure that we have a trade union, that union trade people that are able to create this sort of housing, and we need it now.

Also, I support all of the solidarity budget amendments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tamara Bauman, who will be followed by Ryan McFerrin.

Tamara.

Hi.

Greetings, council members.

My name is Tamara Bauman, and I am a housing advocate at Solid Ground, and I conduct my work from the agency's Wallingford office.

I'm here to express my objection to the mayor's proposed cap on inflation adjustments for human service providers.

I've worked in the human services field for 15 plus years, and I can personally attest that even without soaring inflation, it is difficult to plan for emergencies, build financial reserves, or preserve life to sustaining resources such as housing, when my work as an advocate is already undervalued and under-resourced.

We are the caretakers of our communities, and yet many of us have been displaced from our neighborhoods simply because we cannot afford to live in them any longer.

Human service providers need a more robust investment in their work, not less.

I urge the council to reject the inflation cap.

In doing so, the council will be recognizing human service workers as vital to our region's infrastructure, And most importantly, critical services for our most vulnerable communities will be maintained.

Human service organizations can retain high quality employees and reduce turnover.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ryan McFerrin, who will be followed by Dawn Brubeck.

Ryan.

And Ryan, you may need to press star six.

And if Ryan's not available right now, we'll move on to Don Brubeck.

Don, you may need to press star six also.

And moving on, we will go on to Neil Simpson.

Neil Simpson, please press star six.

And we'll go on to Perry Hartman.

Perry, please press star six.

Hi.

Yes, I'm Perry Hartman and founder of Quiet Clean Seattle, supporting the Parks District Budget Amendment SPR-004, A-001-2023, to ban gas-powered leaf blowers.

Seattle is lucky to have Council Member Peterson spearheading the work to eliminate gas-powered leaf blowers.

And in September you unanimously passed resolution three two zero six four.

Now we need the budget allocation to create an ordinance.

Are you still with us?

Peterson's amendment asked for 200,000 in each of the next two years.

That's 0.005% of the old, the whole proposed budget, practically invisible to put it in perspective, you would have to have 1,827 amendments like this just to equal the police department budget.

We can afford it.

Parks is the largest city user of leaf blowers by a huge margin.

I think the funding will have highly positive results.

Make our city better, cleaner, and quieter by supporting this parks budget amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Neil Simpson.

And after Neil, we'll try back to Don Brubeck and Ryan McFerrin.

But for now, Neil, go ahead.

Thank you.

Good morning, council members.

I'm a resident of District 4 and I work for Solid Ground, a nonprofit that provides a range of services for people living on low incomes, as well as people who have experienced homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless.

I'm here to comment on the mayor's proposal to cap wage increases for human service contracts at a level well below current inflation rates.

At Solid Ground, I am privileged to be able to work every day with frontline social service providers and to see how they are able to transform lives by helping people build paths to stability.

It is hard work and it requires incredible compassion, patience, creativity, and kindness.

My colleagues are on the front line of our homelessness crisis, working to make our community healthier and stronger, and they deserve to earn living wages for that work, living wages that allow them to live in the communities that they serve.

Pulling back on our city's investment in my colleagues at a time when we're facing a homelessness crisis would be a major step back for Seattle.

I urge you to join council members Mosqueda and Herbold in amending the mayor's proposal budget to fully fund inflation wage increases for human service workers.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Don Brubeck.

You'll need to press star six, followed by Ryan McFerrin, who will also need to press star six.

If either of you are available, please do that now.

Okay, we are going to move on to Shalimar Gonzalez.

Shalimar, go ahead, please press star six.

All right, good morning, everyone.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to provide some input this morning.

My name is Shalimar Gonzalez, and I serve as the CEO of Solid Ground.

And Solid Ground, along with other providers, as well as Seattle Human Services Coalition and the Seattle King County, Coalition on Homelessness are really here to urge council to fully fund the inflationary wage increases for human services.

By capping the cost of living wage increases for human services at 4%, especially when inflation is so high right now, it's actually double, nearly double that amount, the proposed budget is an effective cut to human service workers.

and human services as a whole.

And we know that when we are doing this important work, we are doing it on the backs of our employees, we're doing it on the backs of folks that are so passionately about supporting community, and we need to be able to pay them livable fair wages.

So we ask that the council ensure that fully funding inflation adjustment

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Finneka Zhang, followed by Eileen Richard.

Finneka, please press star six.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Finneka Zhang, and I live in District Six, and I'm joining my colleagues from Solid Ground, as well as other human service advocates today, to ask the council to fully fund inflation adjustment.

The mayor's proposed inflation cap prohibits or makes it really hard for providers' abilities to keep up with rising costs and pay our essential workers' living wages.

And keeping up with inflation is really the bare minimum to be able to sustain a lot of the support that you've heard a lot of people express today, express need for.

It helps stabilize the workforce and it'll work towards wage equity for historically underpaid human service workers.

So as the council moves forward with budget deliberations, I urge you all to abide by the ordinance passed in 2019 and adjust for inflation at the full 7.6%.

Thank you so much to Budget Chair Mosqueda and Council Member Herbold for championing amendments to address this and the entire council for all your hard work and attention to this issue.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Eileen Richard, who will be followed by Douglas Allerenshaw.

Eileen Richard, you're up.

Hello.

Good morning.

My name is Eileen Richard.

I'm a LEED REACH supervisor and my team is located in North Seattle.

I'm speaking today on the budget for LEED and CoLEED, amendment number HSD038A001.

The current budget doesn't match the need that we are responding to across the city to work with our unhoused neighbors.

In North Seattle, we are being asked to regularly assist with extremely high needs clients and are often one of very few service provider organizations along with DESC.

These are folks who are falling through system gaps in terms of mental health crisis, accessing shelter, quick access to substance use treatment, housing, and much more.

We're seeing a high number of clients who are cycling through the jail system and are only getting basic needs met and care while in custody.

There's often not enough time or resources to engage these clients on the streets, and these clients need a higher level of intervention than others.

continued financial support for our case managers to continue providing long term care to these vulnerable populations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker now is Don Brubeck, who will be followed by Catherine Wells.

Don Brubeck.

Good morning.

I'm here to represent West Seattle Bike Connections in support of reinstating funding for the Fauntleroy Way Southwest Boulevard Project as proposed by Council Members Herbold, Peterson, and Nelson.

The Fauntleroy Way Southwest Project will improve mobility for people who are walking, biking, riding buses, driving cars and trucks on the major route to the West Seattle Bridge and Spokane Street Bridge.

It will support West Seattle's fastest developing, highest density urban center and make a growing area safer for pedestrians, including people with disabilities.

make it safe to ride a bike on the easiest grade route from downtown to the center of West Seattle, sharing a major truck street and transit route, and create a welcoming gateway to West Seattle after crossing the renewed bridges, and support future stationary development when Sound Transit 3 light rail comes into West Seattle.

Thank you for considering this.

Thank you.

Actually, our next speaker will be Eileen Richard, who will be followed by Catherine Wells.

Eileen?

Good morning.

I just went.

Thank you so much.

Then we will go on to Catherine Wells.

Go ahead, Catherine.

Good morning, my name is Catherine Wells, and I'd also like to support voice support for Council Member Herbold, Peterson, and Nelson's budget amendments that will restore funding for the Fauntleroy Way Boulevard project.

Today, the road is hostile to anyone walking or biking.

Crosswalks are infrequent, but the street is lined with destinations.

The official bike route is indirect and has riders sharing lanes with cars and buses.

I rarely visit the area since it's so uncomfortable.

If built, medians and crosswalk improvements will make it easier for pedestrians to get where they want to go.

Protected bike lanes will connect the heart of West Seattle to downtown and other neighborhoods, mostly on protected lanes and trails.

This transformative project will encourage more people to do their errands without a car and help Seattle achieve its climate and Vision Zero goals.

Safety projects like this and others, especially in neighborhoods south of downtown, really need to be prioritized in this budget so everyone can get where they need to go safely, no matter how they travel.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Catherine Whitehill, and Catherine will be followed by Heather Ralph.

Catherine, go ahead, please.

And Catherine, you may need to press star six.

There you go.

Hello.

Hello, my name is Catherine Whitehill.

I'm the program.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

My name is Catherine Whitehill.

I'm the program director at GLA Day Center in Lake City.

GLA is a community space where unsheltered people in North Seattle can be inside, take care of their hygiene needs and cook a meal.

We excel at building relationships with our guests and leveraging those relationships to support them in taking steps towards disability health and housing.

The mayor's proposed budget reduces GLA funding by $100,000 or nearly a third of our total budget.

The impact of this reduction would be devastating since the 200 plus clients we serve each month, we would likely have to reduce our hours by half.

Reducing services and reducing hours at a place where unsheltered people are welcome to be during the day will increase the impact of unsheltered homelessness on businesses and public spaces.

I implore you to restore the funding to homelessness services

and approve the entire $9.4 million requested by KCRHA to maintain the current level of service provision.

Please also fully fund our staffing costs with a seven.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Heather Ralph, who will be followed by Debolina Banjari.

Heather.

Hello, my name is Heather Ralph.

I'm a resident of Cap Hill.

Thank you for your hard work supporting our city.

I'd like to address police funding, jumpstart funds, and gunshot monitoring funding.

Please fulfill the commitments that council made to decrease police funding by keeping parking enforcement out of the police department, reducing funding to police department to cover only currently filled positions, and removing hiring bonuses for police recruits.

Please use these savings to fund alternative crisis response teams.

Police officers rarely make us safer by stopping crime and make people already discriminated against less safe.

I spoke to the owner of Seven Star Szechuan Pepper before it closed.

She complained about the open air drug market on her corner that kept customers and delivery drivers away.

The owner talked about how she called the police multiple times per day.

Police would show up, everyone would scatter for five minutes and then come right back as soon as the officer left.

Police response could not keep her delicious restaurants from shutting down or help the people outside.

I need other solutions to help homelessness and drug addiction.

Please use the Jumpstart funds for homelessness and to pass new taxes to keep up with inflation and make our tax system more progressive.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Debolina Banerjee, followed by John Grant.

Debolina.

Good morning, chair Mosqueda and council members.

My name is Debolina Banerjee.

I lead climate policy analysis at Puget Sound Stage and serve on the Green New Deal Oversight Board Executive Committee, along with co-chairs Maria Bataiola and Cyrus Valentine, who could not be present today.

Referring to the highlights of our October 18th letter to the mayor and the council, we are pleased that 16 of the 19 items in the mayor's Green New Deal budget meets Green New Deal ordinance and our Oversight Board recommendations, except the following three items.

Three million to support downtown mobility planning and Sound Transit West Seattle Ballard Link light rail extension does not align with the ordinance race and social equity principles.

Instead, we allocate them to Environmental Justice Fund to support community-led EJ work.

seven million has been allocated to municipal buildings decarbonization without the benefit of the 2022 community resilience sub study.

Instead, allocate 3.5 million to implement the resilience sub study and another 3.5 million to underfunded indigenous initiatives.

Finally, fund 3.5 million for 2023 budget items that were excluded from the mayor's proposal.

We urge you to maintain the integrity of the jumpstart community funding.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is John Grant followed by Maya Maness.

John.

Good morning to risk it and committee members my name is John Grant tonight the chief strategy officer with the local housing Institute gets member encourage you to retain the commitment this body made to human service providers in 2019 to tie human service contracts to inflation.

This is essential to retain the core of our workforce which is majority people of color will be disproportionately impacted with inflation increases due to the due to the lower average wages of our that our workforce or This year, Lehigh has hired 30 people with lived experience, mostly formerly homeless people who have lived in our tiny house village program.

We cannot let people slide back into poverty.

Thank you, Council Members Mosqueda and Herbold for your amendment supporting human service workers.

Please also support Council Member Lewis's amendment for $2.8 million to sustain our existing portfolio of tiny house villages.

This funding will sustain behavioral health investments this Council made last year and make critical repairs to our sites, such as replacing damaged tiny houses.

This funding is crucial without which we would need to reduce services next year at a time when the city is ramping up encampment removals.

Thank you so much for your support.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Maya Maness who will be followed by Penny O'Grady.

Maya.

Hi.

Good morning.

I am Maya Maness advocacy and community engagement director at the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.

We provide direct services to the black community to achieve economic and educational opportunities.

Our focus includes everything from homelessness to homeownership and connection to livable wage jobs.

With this focus, the city has worked alongside us and from 2020 helped expand our efforts to include a 24-hour youth shelter to ensure that the most vulnerable to chronic homelessness do not end up there.

Therefore, it is saddening to see that the current budget proposals diminishes the value of those who directly serve the community.

For everyone in Seattle to feel safe is to ensure that everyone has sustainable housing.

our human services providers do that every day.

We urge city council to ensure that housing and homelessness programs funded through the one-time federal funding are maintained to continue public safety.

In addition, we support the efforts to ensure that human services providers are adequately compensated.

We believe in livable wages for the black community, which includes our staff.

Often, providers are asking for the same resources they're assisting

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Penny O'Grady who will be followed by Seth Leisman.

Penny go ahead please.

Hello.

I'm Penny from District 6. I'm here for the solidarity budget.

I am strongly opposed to all the ways Mayor Harrell outrageously proposes rating Jumpstart.

Among them it transfers 86 million of Jumpstart to fill the city's general fund deficit.

Given that 23 percent of the general fund goes to SPD This means that $20 million should go to housing in Seattle's Green New Deal instead of SPD.

At least $38 million is being proposed to permanently expand the Sweeps team, cementing a policy resulting in record deaths of our houseless neighbors.

Defund Sweeps.

Fund mobile pit stops, vehicle safe lots, a non-congregate shelter in North Seattle.

Pay social service workers their full value.

We live in a system that is addicted to comfort, specifically the comfort of some at the expense of others surviving and thriving.

The budget is a moral document.

As a white woman, I'm not signing on to a contract that trades my humanity, that is, my capacity to tend to the well-being of all the city's residents for my own comfort and advantage.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Seth Leisman, followed by Nicole Smith.

Seth?

Hi, I'm just speaking in support of fully funding the inflation adjustment for human service contracts.

Mayor Harold initially supported the adjustment of 7.6% in 2019, while on the City Council, but now his mayor believes the adjustment should be slashed to a mere 1.2%.

This would decimate an already strained workforce and severely hinder any progress supporting and housing those most vulnerable among us who are living on the street.

I've been in this line of work for almost 8 years and during that time have witnessed staff turnover fueled by inadequate wages, high stress, and impossible expectations.

Ensuring human service providers are paid livable wages that will quickly not get outpaced by inflation is essentially an attracting and maintaining workers who are consistently expected to do more with less.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Nicole Smith, who will be followed by Valerie Garibay.

Nicole?

Go ahead, Nicole.

Looks like you may need to press star 6. There you go.

All right.

Hello council members.

I am Nicole Smith of the YWCA Seattle King County.

Our organization is a member of the Seattle Human Services Coalition.

I'm speaking today to ask for your support on the following matters.

Sustained current successful community based health and human services.

support SHSCS's budget recommendations to apply the necessary funding that forces on an equitable recovery needed for the most vulnerable in our city.

As a human service provider, we know firsthand what communities are experiencing.

We know which proven strategies work to support public safety and overall build well-being.

To do this, we must, at the very least, sustain current strategies by funding and adjustment to human services contracts to meserate with the inflation that is impacting our organizations.

Our expenses have increased.

Funding less than the actual rate of inflation means we will have to cut.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Valerie Garibay, followed by Bridget Griffin.

Valerie?

Go ahead, Valerie.

All right, it looks like Valerie is unmuted.

We will move on to Bridget Griffin.

Valerie, are you there now?

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hello?

Hello, let us know who you are.

My name is Valerie.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Valerie.

Okay.

Hi, so my name is Valerie Gerbe.

I work at the YWCA as a domestic violence advocate.

Our organization is a member of the Seattle Human Services Coalition.

I'm speaking today to ask for your support on the following matters.

To sustain current successful community-based health and human services, support SHSC's budget recommendations to apply the necessary funding that focuses on an equitable recovery needed for the most vulnerable in our city, As a human service provider, we see firsthand what communities are experiencing.

We know which proven strategies work to support public safety and overall build wealth means.

To do this, we must, at the very least, sustain current strategies by funding and adjustment to human service contracts in proportion with inflation that is impacting our organization.

Our expenses have increased.

Funding less than the actual rate of inflation means we will have to cut services.

Capping inflation adjustments will not only harm our communities now, but will continue to inhibit our ability to provide services in the future.

We ask that you honor the decision made by the 2019 City Council to provide annual inflation adjustments to human service contracts.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker will be Bridget Griffin, who will be followed by Dennis Sills, who was called on earlier, but first we'll do Bridget and then Dennis.

Thank you.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Oh, hi.

So my name is Bridget Griffin, and I work at the YWCA, Seattle King County.

And our organization is a member of the Seattle Human Services Coalition.

I'm speaking today to ask for your support on the following matters.

Sustaining current successful community-based health and human services.

Support SHFC budget recommendations to apply the necessary funding that focuses on an equitable recovery needed for the most vulnerable in our city.

As a human service provider, we see firsthand what communities are experiencing.

We know which proven strategies work to support public safety and overall budget well-being.

To do this, we must, at the very least, sustain current strategies by funding and adjustment to human services contract commensurate with the inflation that is impacting our organizations.

Our expenses have increased.

Funding less than the actual rate of inflation means we will have to cut services.

Capping inflation adjustments will not only harm our communities now, but will continue to end.

Thank you.

Our next speaker will be Dennis Sills, followed by our last speaker, Ryan McFerrin.

Dennis, go ahead, please.

Chair Mosqueda and committee members, on behalf of more than 1,100 residents and 250 staff at Plymouth Housing, thank you for the opportunity to comment.

My name is Dennis Sills and I work at Plymouth Housing.

More than 660 individuals will be sleeping downtown this evening without shelter as the weather gets colder and the rains return.

That's only a fraction of the unsheltered in our city.

The city is pursuing 3000 units of shelter and permanent support housing this year, but we know that's not enough.

Improvements to this proposal can support more housing in our city.

We are grateful to council members Mosqueda, Herbold, and Lewis for an amendment to adjust contracts by 7.6%.

Current inflation levels are even higher, near 9%.

Also, please remove the 4% cost of living cap in this proposal.

Please ensure JumpStart funding is used for addressing homelessness and housing as intended.

The budget proposal diverts 85 million from JumpStart fund.

For prior providers to continue to answer a call and serve thousands of residents, these changes are necessary, not elective.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you.

And our last speaker today is Ryan McFerrin.

Go ahead, Ryan.

Good morning.

My name is Ryan McFerrin, Program Manager of Tax Credits and Financial Stability at United Way of King County.

I'm here to request that you restore human services funding for our free tax preparation campaign.

We operate the only volunteer income tax assistance program in Seattle and have successfully scaled our program over the last decade thanks to our strong partnership with the city.

Our campaign has served more than 30,000 Seattle residents and returned over $37 million in federal dollars to the local economy in the last five years alone.

Tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit are the best anti-poverty tool that the federal government has to offer, and our free tax preparation campaign is focused on helping people receive every cent that is owed to them.

The data shows that many taxpayers miss out on important credits without the help of a tax expert, which we provide the community for free.

In 2023, our free tax preparation campaign will also focus on helping people learn about and apply for Washington's new Working Families Tax Credit, which will provide households with as much as $1,200 in additional direct cash assistance.

I urge the council to please restore HSD grant opportunities, 100,000 of which will allow United Way to create millions of dollars in positive returns that go directly into the pockets of Seattle residents.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And that concludes our public speakers today, Council Chair.

Thank you very much.

All right, thank you very much to everyone who dialed in.

We had about 80 plus people who had dialed in online and about 60, excuse me, 30 people in the room.

So I want to thank everybody.

We did get through all of the public comment.

That brings us to noon today.

we have a full agenda.

I anticipate that we will go for the next hour until one p.m.

we will have a recess from one to two p.m.

and then we will reconvene at two p.m.

and finish the rest of our agenda.

Madam Clerk could you please read item number one into the record.

agenda item one introduction and budget deliberations overview for briefing and discussion.

Well, thank you so much.

I made some opening comments at the beginning of today's committee hearing that began at 9.30 AM.

We've spent the last few hours hearing directly from community members, and now we'll have a chance to hear from the colleagues who have proposed amendments that align with many of the recommendations that we've heard today.

As a reminder, some of the public comments were in reference to amendments that may be not being deliberated today, but could be deliberated on Wednesday and Thursday.

We do have a full list of departments to discuss today as well as a full day on Wednesday and Thursday.

So I'm gonna turn it over to our central staff team to remind us about what we will be considering and when throughout the week and what we can expect in terms of a process after the three days of deliberations on the proposed concepts.

that council members are putting forward as we consider the initial balancing package for the chair's proposed budget.

Please go ahead and welcome Director Handy.

Thank you, Chair Mosqueda and Budget Committee.

For the record, Esther Handy, Central Staff Director, will be brief this morning, but want to name that in the past week, you all have defined and our team has drafted 100 council budget actions These are the proposed amendments to the executive's proposed budget that would raise new revenue, expand appropriations for existing programs or fund new ones, and ask for reports and council oversight on key issues.

I want to thank the central staff team again for their hard work through the weekend in our bubble of amendment production to have these ready for committee discussion this week.

Today, this council begins shaping what will be the adopted city budget and these proposed amendments are an opportunity for you to talk both about the specific programs you would like to see included in the budget and the values that underlie your choices.

As we move into this phase, our roles in discussion will shift.

Last week, central staff was presenting our analysis of the proposed budgets and issues we had identified.

This week, as sponsors of amendments, you will lead the charge.

Central staff will be on the line, we will briefly describe each proposal, and then we will be able to answer questions about the amendments, leaving more time for council discussion and deliberation.

Two pieces to leave you with as we head into that.

First, as you have that discussion, I remind both you and the public what you already know, which is that without making fundamental changes to the proposed budget, there is not revenue to support all of the proposed amendments that will be discussed this week.

So at the end of the process, you will be faced with hard choices on what to prioritize, and the discussion this week will help you make those choices.

And I want to let you know that at both of the next stages in the process, the review of the balancing package and the adoption of the final budget, the central staff team will be providing additional analysis about how proposed changes impact the six-year financial plan for the general fund.

So today, we're talking about ads in concept.

At the next phase, we will bring more analysis about what that means for budget sustainability.

We really look forward to be part of your deliberations this week.

I'm going to turn it over to Allie, who's just going to show on the screen sort of the mechanics of what this will look like.

Thank you, Deputy Director Panucci.

Thank you, Director Handy.

Good morning or good afternoon, Chair Mosqueda and members of the Budget Committee.

I'm Allie Panucci of your central staff.

If we could move to the next slide.

This week, we will complete step three of six in the budget process.

As Director Handy noted, this is an opportunity to discuss all the amendments identified to date to inform the initial balancing package.

We will do this discussion organized by department, as that's how the city budget is designed.

I'll just note that we did update this slide to remove a few departments that were originally on the list distributed last night.

As we are forming your amendments, we sometimes identify that the original proposal maybe was for one department but is better suited for another.

So just noting that there were a couple of departments like the Office of Waterfront and Finance General that were on this list that are no longer on it, although there is one walk-on amendment for Finance General for discussion this afternoon.

If we move to the next slide.

Following these discussions, we will begin working with the budget chair to develop the initial balancing package and then with all of you.

This work will include addressing any changes we receive in the revenue forecast.

We will get that information on or before November 2nd and will be an important piece that gets addressed in the initial package.

As you continue to hear from the community about the budget proposals, new ideas are likely to bubble to the surface.

Please reach out to central staff analysts to discuss any late breaking ideas that you may bring forward later in the process or any information that might refine your proposal that would be helpful in informing the chair's package.

And then following development of the package that will be published on November 7th.

There is a public hearing on November 8th, and then any amendments to that package are due the next day.

Before I turn it back to the chair and we jump into discussions of specific budget amendment proposals, I want to just briefly explain the new format we are using this year to present the amendments.

Patty, could you put the first amendment up on the screen just so I can describe for the committee and for the public, the new format we are using.

So you can see here, thanks to Joseph from our amazing communications team in the ledge branch.

for developing this beautiful tool for us to use.

You'll see the agenda item at the top of the screen, the amendment number, in this case, Arts 2A1, the title, the primary sponsor and additional sponsor, and then a summary of the amendment.

In some cases, to have this fit on the screen, we have truncated the summary.

So if there are more details in the amendment sheet that's published to the agenda that a council member would like to see presented on the screen, Just let us know.

Patty can present that very can swap to that very, very quickly.

So with that, I'll turn it back over to the chair to move us into the discussion of the amendments.

Thank you so much and thanks as always to the central staff team led by director handy and deputy director I want to also appreciate the communications team is constantly providing additional tools for us to improve communication and transparency on the budgeting process with members of the public.

This is another great example when you look at the display of the amendments much easier to read than our usual spreadsheets that we display on the screen.

So thank you very much to Joseph Colleagues, as we get into this discussion, I want to again thank you all for coming up with ideas.

Council members are all coming, I believe, from the same place, a shared commitment to trying to improve the lives of Seattleites across our city.

And we may have different approaches to how we would want to accomplish that, but I want to make sure that I lift up the intention of all of our council colleagues behind the amendments that you have put forward with, I think, the shared intention of identifying how we can improve the lives and the livelihood of those who are here in our city.

So thank you for your thoughtful approach to this and we hopefully will have a thoughtful and respectful dialogue about the amendments recognizing today is not a a vote but an opportunity to ask questions if needed and to raise additional comments on the themes.

I also want to again reiterate my appreciation for all of you as we think about this tough and challenging budget year in front of us and how we seek to accomplish that path to recovery.

The path to a quicker recovery, as we've talked about, means investing in people, means investing in our community, and it means focusing on investments that yield a stronger, faster, and more equitable recovery.

In this Council's budget deliberation process, I know that I will be looking to first center key city investments on core government services and urgent priorities.

Again, housing, human services, a true equitable and public safety approach, and creating healthy communities through all of our investments.

I look forward to working with you and your teams in your office and central staff along with community members over the next two weeks to prioritize various investments so that we can see a council initial balancing budget that reflects these urgent needs throughout our districts and throughout the entire city.

So just a reminder on what the process looks like as we get into each amendment, we're going to go amendment by amendment by department.

We will have the clerk read the agenda item into the record.

Each department has its own agenda item and all of the amendments will be read in the order in which they were published on the agenda.

The chair will ask central staff to describe the amendment first, and then the prime sponsor will be given a chance to make brief comments about that amendment.

I'll then open it up to the floor to see if there's any additional questions or comments from our colleagues.

Again, as a reminder, you do not have to sign on to any amendment as a co-sponsor to express your support.

I'd like you to be very judicious and exercise restraint in the number of amendments you're signing on to.

And I appreciate that if there is an amendment that you'd like to add your name to, I will make sure to recognize you before we move on to the next amendment.

I will, at that point, note for the record that a council member is adding their name to an amendment as an official co-sponsor.

And after we've reached the end of the published amendments for that department, we will go to any walk-on amendments at the end of that department before going on to the next department.

really appreciate, again, the ability for us to get through all of the agenda today.

So we also wanna thank the co-sponsors who've signed on to these amendments.

As a co-sponsor, you do not need to make additional comments unless you really feel it's urgent, but just in order for us to keep moving forward, I would want to encourage you to keep those comments restrained as well.

Okay, let's go ahead and move on to item number two, which is beginning the list of our departments.

Madam Clerk, could you please read item number two into the record?

Agenda item two.

Arts, excuse me, Office of Arts and Culture.

Well, here we go central staff we have arts and culture in front of us and I see with us Jasmine Marwaha.

Good morning, Jasmine.

Would you like to kick it off for us?

Sure.

Again, my name is Jasmine Marwaha, Council Central Staff, and I'm presenting Council Budget Action Arts 1A1.

This council budget action would add $1 million general fund in 2023, one time, to the Office of Arts and Culture to support Station Space, a project that has bubbled out of the work of Cultural Space Agency Public Development Authority, and which will be located on the second floor of King Street Station.

The proposed funding request would support tenant improvements to King Street Station for the project.

This is sponsored by Councilmember Morales and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Lewis and Herbold.

Thank you very much.

And Council Member Morales, thank you for being our first prime sponsor to speak to your amendment.

Please go ahead.

Very exciting.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you very much, Jasmine.

Colleagues will remember that in 2020, we chartered the Cultural Space Agency, PDA, to secure long-term affordable cultural space for our city's art community.

The Cultural Space Agency, as Jasmine mentioned, recently reintroduced the city to King Street Station.

On the second floor is the Station Space, which is intended to be a creative economy multiplex.

They're partnering with six youth-serving cultural organizations, including Totem Star, Red Eagle Soaring, the rap city project whip smart and Jackson Street music program, as well as the Seattle Public School skill center.

So this would be a one time capital investment that could help complete tenant improvements and and begin to activate the space.

As I said this space was conceived as a way to bring creative vibrancy to a very prominent civic space down in CID.

And it's designed as a way to model pathway for artists and cultural creatives from elementary school through high school and young adulthood through a gig-based arts and creative economy.

Are there any additional questions for Council Member Morales?

Okay, thank you very much Council Member Morales.

I don't see any additional comments.

Love that you've brought this forward and having just visited Denver and seeing what they're doing to their union station, we know that much more can be done, don't we?

Let's move on to the next one.

And I'm looking for central staff, please chime in.

Go ahead, please.

Yeah, that's me again.

So this is Council Budget Action Arts 2A1.

This Council Budget Action would add $50,000 general fund in 2023 one time to the Office of Arts and Culture to improve signage at the AIDS Memorial Pathway, or AMP, in Capitol Hill.

The AMP is a public-private partnership with funding provided by a variety of public and private sources.

Recently, private stakeholders led by consultant Studio Pacifica conducted an assessment of the AMP, and the recommendations that bubble to the top were, one, to add wayfinding signage to mark the entrance of the pathway, and two, to provide more accessible informational kiosks for each piece of artwork that utilizes additional communication formats and technologies for people with disabilities.

These improvements are estimated to cost approximately $50,000.

The CBA is sponsored by Council Member Nelson and co-sponsored by Council Members Sawant and Peterson.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Nelson, please go ahead.

Thank you very much.

This is a request from a former member, former Council Member Tom Rasmussen, who was instrumental in putting the funding together for for the AIDS Memorial Parkway.

And if you haven't been there, I recommend it.

It's in the north part of Cal Anderson and continues into the plaza next to the light rail station on Capitol Hill.

It has a number of art installations that have signage that, as was identified by members of the disability community, are not accessible.

Many of them are close to the ground and some of these installations are interactive and could use some better technology so that people understand how to interact with them.

So this would be one-time funding to improve the information about the installations as well as the accessibility of the signage itself.

So I am open to any questions if anyone has them.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

I see a few hands.

Council Member Strauss, please go ahead.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you Council Member Nelson for primary sponsoring this.

I'd love to co-sponsor this.

This will be my only co-sponsorship request of the day, Chair, per your request of being narrow with our requests.

I've just watched Council Member Rasmussen work on this project.

I've been so impressed with it, and I just wanna be as supportive as possible.

Thank you, colleagues.

Thank you very much.

For the record, adding Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Strauss is a co-sponsor.

Council Member Lewis, please go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Chair, I would also like to add myself as a co sponsor to follow up on this council's budget actions over the last couple years to support this important project.

I did want to ask a question maybe of the sponsor or of central staff.

Is, is this restoring an ad that didn't get out the door from last year's budget, or is this a new ask building on the project after the most recent phase was completed.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, this is great.

I'm glad we're continuing to build on this, just checking in on the progress.

I was really excited last year to go to the unveiling of the project with a number of my colleagues here and happy to continue to support it, this essential placemaking and important memorial.

Thank you very much, Council Member Lewis.

Council Member Lewis is adding his name as a co-sponsor.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you, and likewise, I will be very judicious.

I commit to you in my adding my name as a co-sponsor, I would like to, I did make a commitment to Council Member Rasmussen to do so.

And I have been a prime sponsor on prior AIDS Memorial Pathway budget asks in the past and would just like to fulfill my commitment to this project in particular as it relates to the accessibility needs associated for greater access for people with disabilities.

That's another project that I've worked with Council Member Rasmussen on as it relates to adding hearing loops in each our council chambers and the boards and commission rooms.

So I'm just really excited about the opportunity to continue my commitment here.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Herbold, adding her name as a co-sponsor.

Council Member Nelson, anything else in closing?

Yeah, just in closing, this is one example of something that I think is a broader conversation about accessibility on public property in our parks and on our streets.

And so when I was talking to former Council Member Rasmussen about this, we spoke of maybe this being something that the commission takes up just so that we don't have, so that for new developments on city property that we make sure that we're thinking about accessibility first.

And I do appreciate Council Member Herbold's inclusion of that in the parts district spending plan.

Thanks.

And thank you everyone for co-sponsoring.

Wonderful.

Excuse me, before we wrap, Council Member Morales?

I chair I don't have another question about this I wonder if I might make one more comment about the arts department before we leave.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Nelson just concluding that amendment.

We've added Strauss Lewis and herbal.

Okay, Councilmember Morales.

I do want to just state on the record that there is another issue we're trying to understand at the department, which is the relationship between the cultural space line item in the budget and the proposal to eliminate the FTE that is associated with that work.

So I don't have an amendment yet, but just want to put on the record, I may be bringing one if we determine that action is needed.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And thanks for working with central staff to keep an eye on that as we craft this initial proposal.

I appreciate it, colleagues.

I think we're ready to move on to item number three.

Agenda item three, office of the city auditor.

Wonderful.

Well, I see with us, Lisa Kay.

Good morning, Lisa.

Please go ahead, Lisa.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm Lisa Kaye, Central Staff.

This Council Budget Action, which is AUD1A1, is sponsored by Council Member Lewis and co-sponsored by Council Member Morales and Council Member Nelson.

This amendment would add $32,000 to fully fund the Auditor's projected 2023 staffing costs.

Their office has been using salary savings to stay within their budget as they filled several vacancies this year.

but the cost to hire the new auditors has been bubbling higher than anticipated due to competition in a tight labor market.

This ad would provide sufficient budget authority for the city auditor to make a competitive offer for a currently vacant position.

I'll turn the microphone over to Council Member Lewis as sponsor of the amendment.

Thank you.

Council Member Lewis, please go ahead.

Lisa, thank you so much.

This is unfortunately a less ambitious amendment than one I pursued in years past to dramatically expand the office even further.

I do continue to think that the auditor resource is something we as the legislative branch do not continue to use to the full effect that we might to ensure compliance and efficiency and accountability from executive departments.

But this request is in line with our tight budget situation this year to make sure at the very least, we have a resourced and supported auditors office to take on work commitment that comes out of this budget cycle and that has come out of our policy committees.

We just recently released an audit.

Council Member Herbold and I requested regarding treatment for methamphetamine addiction.

We have a pending audit coming out soon on organized retail theft.

We have done audits in the last couple of years on bridge maintenance, on sidewalk repair.

And it really is a very important tool that can really help to emphasize the policy priorities of this council and help move city government forward to be more accountable and accessible to the people.

So with that, this will help us keep up.

And I hope that in future years, we can continue to work to build a bigger and stronger auditor office.

But in the meantime, this will help us keep up with our dynamic and important work plan for this office.

Thank you very much, Council Member Lewis.

Council Member Peterson, please go ahead.

Thank you, Chair Mosqueda, and thank you, Council Member Lewis.

I concur with your remarks and would love to be a co-sponsor on this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Council Member Peterson, adding his name as a co-sponsor.

Okay, colleagues, I don't see any additional comments, and I don't see a hand from the prime, so I think we're ready to move on.

Council Member Peterson has added his name as a co-sponsor.

Madam Clerk, we are flying through this.

Could you please read item number four into the record?

Agenda item four, the City Budget Office.

Thank you very much, and good morning again, Deputy Director Panucci.

Thank you, good morning, or good afternoon.

So this amendment CBO 2A1 is sponsored by Chair Mosqueda.

This is one of the omnibus amendments that Chair Mosqueda mentioned at the beginning of the meeting today.

As you will recall from the discussions during the budget hearings, the mayor's proposed budget included making permanent changes to existing fund policies that establish the allowed use of proceeds from the jumpstart payroll expense tax short-term rental tax and the transportation network company tax.

This amendment would reject that proposal and instead pass a different piece of legislation that would just temporarily provide that flexibility for use of those funds in certain ways over the biennium, but would not make any permanent changes to those fund policies.

So the amendment would recommend passage of that alternative legislation that was attached to the agenda.

In addition, the amendment identifies about a dozen items that are proposed to be funded by the Jumpstart Fund in the proposed budget that the chair, as she develops the initial package, will seek to either identify an alternative fund source for those proposed expenditures or may reduce the proposed appropriations that are included in the proposed budget to use for other purposes.

Other items that are not listed in this amendment may be identified as we work through all of the proposed amendments as well, and some of the items listed here may not ultimately be changed.

So the draft legislation that was attached to the agenda allows for greater flexibility that may ultimately be included in the final legislation, but it will ultimately depend on what resources are available to realign some of those proposed expenditures and ensure that the use of those funds is flexible enough that the proposed budget can balance over the biennium.

With that, I'll turn it to the chair.

Thank you very much, colleagues.

This is an amendment that I am sponsoring, and I want to just spend a few moments speaking about this.

As I noted this morning, I've asked central staff to develop a few omnibus amendments.

This is one of them that I may consider as we develop our balancing package.

As you heard central staff explain, this amendment ensures that the initial balancing package could realign the proposed revenue streams as best as possible.

to the spending categories already defined in statute and only allowed temporary deviation of those policies.

This amendment also seeks to maintain existing programs and avoid cuts and reductions in services before investing in new initiatives.

And we can only do that as we consider the amendment, the series of amendments that council members are interested in, if we look first to see how we can best realign the revenue streams.

This approach also offers flexibility and I want to point back to the Finance and Housing Committee meeting that took place in August.

In our Finance and Housing Committee meeting, as Chair, I noted for deliberation with both the community and the Executive Office the opportunity for us to show flexibility in these tough times.

but that flexibility needed to adhere to the spending plan and the promises codified in the spend plan as passed by the council to ensure that those core investments in housing, Green New Deal, economic resilience and equitable development initiative were maintained as codified and planned for in terms of the dollar amounts when we pass the legislation.

We also recognized in that August meeting as the economic revenue situation continues to look bleak and potentially getting worse as we head into this fall time period and as we look at the next two to four years, we need to offer some flexibility in potentially how we plug these budget holes.

My commitment has always been to avoid austerity and maintain investments for our most vulnerable community and core city services.

So the approach in this amendment that Ali has just described aligns with the signal that I made in August to help ensure that we can maintain commitment to the revenue priorities and also offered some flexibility to avoid austerity and budget cuts.

I want to thank as well the large coalition of community organizations, the hundreds of community members and over 100 organizations who supported the passage of progressive revenue in 2020. And in 2022, here we are with a large coalition of folks saying yes, please protect the categories and the spending amounts that we assumed originally.

And also we understand due to the economic crisis that we are currently facing and the hardship that is still being prolonged due to COVID, that using the higher than anticipated revenue to help prevent against cuts and austerity is important.

The coalition includes 350 Seattle, Civic Ventures, Chief Seattle Club, Downtown Emergency Services Center, Housing Development Consortium of Seattle King County, Low Income Housing Institute, MLK Labor, Protech 17, Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority, Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness, SEIU 775, SEIU 925, SEIU 1199 Healthcare Northwest.

It includes Statewide Poverty Action Network, Solid Ground, Teamsters 117, UFCW 3000, Unite Here Local 8, Washington State Budget and Policy Center, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, and Working Washington, who've all jointly said, regardless of how we came to this moment in terms of the operating deficit, we are united in opposition to an austerity approach.

to this shortfall, which would hamstring Seattle's economic recovery and disproportionately impact those communities.

We also want to be clear that we are only interested in helping to address the shortfall in the 2023 2024 budget that we can continue to fully fund the promises and the commitments of jump start as codified into statute.

So again, I want to thank those colleagues from the community for echoing support for this temporary approach, and given that jump start is projected to raise revenue above what was estimated in 2020. We are very interested in continuing to identify the higher than anticipated revenue to be able to prevent austerity.

I think this is important, and just three more points and then I'll, I'll turn it over to the comments on TNC and short term rental I think it's really important for us to consider this omnibus amendment as well, not only to prevent against budget cuts, but to continue to me and trust with the community.

And to all of those who are looking at us who have passed progressive revenue, we need to do what we said we'd do and not have another spend plan that goes by the wayside.

We codified it into statute for a reason.

We created a jumpstart oversight board, and we are working with members of the public in a very transparent way to make sure that we're reviewing all of the jumpstart investments and adhering to the spend plan because last year we created that jumpstart fund.

It's very easy for us to ensure accountability.

and transparency.

The large coalition that came together is also really very adamant that the investments that we outlined in the spend plan were intended to be additive and not to supplant any addition in the existing revenue streams or specifically the general fund.

So in order to maintain this commitment to help prevent against displacement, it's important that we keep to those spending categories as codified into statute.

And finally, as it relates to the TNCs and the short-term rental tax, we recognize that this is a tough budget year.

And with the tough decisions in front of us, we're ensuring through this omnibus amendment approach that we will build in flexibility to fund what continues to be our core government services in this crucial time.

I am open to some amount of flexibility on the TNC tax, but want to note that the tax was developed by a very broad coalition of stakeholders, and any deviations from that spend plan, as we've done with jumpstart should be considered with the original group who came up with the TNC spend plan as codified.

Colleagues, the proposal allows for us to have flexibility in this year and next year.

In this biennium, we are interested in closing these budget gaps, but we also don't want these to be long-term strategies for the revenue needs throughout our city.

So this is complimentary of our joint work with the executive to ensure that we are looking at and advancing progressive legislation, progressive tax legislation in the future to ensure that our budget will remain stable.

Again, I'm sorry I spent extra time on this amendment, it is a large amendment that's still in development, but we wanted to flag it early to be transparent with all of you about the importance of us scouring the budget for these alignments and possibility of ensuring that we had revenue to prevent against austerity and cuts.

And again, I want to also note.

appreciation for especially Julie Dingley our director of the city budgets office, her and her team have done everything they can to ensure that they're transmitting to us a balanced budget and I think that this is an opportunity for us to look at different strategies to accomplish the same thing, a balanced budget and ensure that the council passes a budget that aligns with our values and policies that have been codified already.

So appreciation for the hard work that they did to ensure a balanced budget was sent to us, and we will continue to look through this omnibus approach at ways to create a balanced budget that aligns with the council's values and priorities.

Is there any additional comments or questions on that?

Please, Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

Just a couple questions, and I understand that this is a policy that is still in development, and so some of the concepts behind it may not be fully fleshed out yet.

I noticed the word temporary throughout, Do we have a working definition of what temporary flexibility looks like?

Or are we thinking that it is, in fact, the biennium that we're budgeting for?

Council Member, I'll answer that, and then Central Staff, please clarify as well.

Temporary is constantly referring to the biennium, so a short two-year period.

As you also heard from Central Staff in their presentation of the initial proposal as transmitted by the Mayor, the concept of using Jump Start funds was not given a hard deadline or there was not a sunset in what was proposed.

But if you look at the financial plan, we understand that it was their assumption that it would only be used for two years.

So what we'd be doing is ensuring in statute that any temporary use is only confined to a biennium.

Allie, would you add anything to that?

No, Chair Mosqueda, that is accurate.

It is just allowing the flexibility for this biennium.

Great.

And then one other question tonight.

Yes, please go ahead.

Council member.

At the bottom of the second page, there are a list of proposed expenditures that the budget paper suggests that you Madam Chair will be identifying alternative fund or reducing the appropriations because these are Um, expenditures that use uses.

Jumpstart in a way that is in conflict with the flexibility that you're, um, you're considering.

I don't see a similar list for, um, short term rental tax fund or the TNC, uh, revenues is, um, but I've, I've, I've heard it said, uh, in our, um, earlier round of discussions that are, is, um, some misalignment there as well.

Is this sort of a manifestation again of your flexibility that you're proposing that we support the lack of alignment on the TNC and the short rental, but really focus because this is going to be a very, very difficult revenue year.

We focus our efforts on realigning misaligned start funding?

Yeah, I can speak to that.

And then I'd encourage Ali to as well.

Yes, it's our intent to go through and also look at those alignments.

We did allow flexibility in the higher than anticipated jumpstart categories as well.

And we'll continue to look to the stakeholders who are part of the TNC and short term rental tax discussion to talk about whether there's alignment as well.

Ali, would you add anything to that?

Yeah, thank you, Travis get a customer for herbal, there is a slightly different flavor of the proposed changes and use of funds for the TNC and the short term rental tax revenues for those to the legislation or resolutions that guide spending for those.

specific revenue sources.

The issue with the proposed budget is not that they are using the funds for things that are not authorized.

It is that they are not allocated them proportionally in the way that's intended.

So for the short term rental fund, it is $1 million short of funding the equitable development initiative.

So if the in the initial package, there's an opportunity to correct that, then it wouldn't require any change to the policies.

And we would just take that out of the proposal.

Similarly, with the TNC tax revenues, the proposal is to spend it all on transportation-related investments and administering the tax.

Those are both allowed under the ordinance.

It's just not allocating any of the funds to housing.

So that's why the list for Jumpstart, because some of the specific expenditures are inconsistent.

And maybe if there's an opportunity to realign them, the amount of flexibility included in the final bill might narrow a bit.

I also wanna add a point just for clarification.

And of course, Ali, feel free to chime in or correct me here.

But I think the importance of this list was to offer areas where we saw new investments or investments that might not technically align with a definition of what the codified spend plan for Jumpstart was.

These are some examples.

I wanna also be really clear though, these might be examples that we as a council do want to, we're going to be able to use the funds that we're going to be able to use to fund.

And so it's this is not a list of proposed cuts in here.

This is just an initial list of where we see some areas that might not have.

True alignment, but maybe a good use for temporary purposes, especially as we have higher than anticipated revenue given of work to be done that I wanted to flag for folks because it's first an analysis of what was added that might not be totally in alignment and what is being proposed that might be just slightly outside of the categories there.

But that's not an indication that it's not something that I or maybe the other council members would want to fund.

And we would be looking at ways to potentially build that back in if we can with maybe swapping the revenue source or for a temporary use of Jump Start.

A lot of moving parts still to come, but I just don't want this list to signal a cut coming on those specific line items.

I'm sorry, and I should have really verbally found a way to underscore that the first option you give for this list is to identify an alternative fund, not to make a reduction.

So really appreciate that.

I appreciate this.

I know this is gonna be a really heavy lift for you, Madam Chair and Council Central staff.

This is a lot of work, but it's a lot of work that's being done in the spirit to maintain our commitment to public in enacting these policies and these revenue streams.

So I'm so appreciative that you're taking the extra time to do this policy work on top of the important budget work of the chair.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair.

Council Member Nelson, please go ahead.

Thank you, Ali.

It's my Well, correct me if I'm wrong, does the mayor's proposed budget reorder the the for number three, the short term rental tax fund priorities that get funded is because it's I think I remember that paying a debt service is moved to the top and then EDI and and the third are are lower on the list.

Is that the case?

So I guess what I'm saying is that this modifies the amount that will go to EDI by 1 million, but does it also change the order of the mayor's proposed spending priorities?