Good morning, everybody.
Hi, welcome.
My name is Mark McIntyre.
I'm the director for the City of Seattle's Office of Economic Development, and we're here today on this foggy Tuesday with a very important announcement.
We're launching the new Storefront Repair Fund to support small businesses that have been impacted by vandalism and damages to their brick and mortar operations.
At the city, we're going to use nearly $2 million of federal assistance to provide grants of up to $2,000 to help business owners repair current property damage or be reimbursed for costs they've already paid out of pocket for past damages that occurred on or after January 1st of 2021. Excuse me, 2022. Applications will be open October 18th.
So we've got a couple weeks to make sure that we're letting people know about this program, making sure that we're giving people a chance to apply.
And OED is going to process the applications on a continual basis until all funds are spent.
So it's going to be rolling application processing.
Over the past two years, our small businesses have been doing everything they can to stay open, support their employees, serve the public, and make a living for themselves and their families.
We know that when a business's windows is shattered or their doors are broken, and other forms of vandalism, it can put a business in financial distress, force them to shut down temporarily to clean up and repair, and impacts the look and feel of a business district as a whole.
So as people are walking around, they're noticing it, and it's just kind of creating a feeling of disarray.
But most importantly, it really does impact those business owners and their staff's sense of safety and hope.
So as we're revitalizing, this is a key part of how we're going to bring spark and bring vibrancy back to Seattle.
So this fund is going to allow the city to fill the gap that we've heard loud and clear from our business district leaders, individual business owners, and community members.
With these grants, we're going to provide some financial relief to those needing to fix existing damages or reimburse those that have already paid for past damages.
We're trying to get them back to baseline in some sense of stability.
This is also going to help businesses avoid having to file a claim with their insurance company and risk having their coverage increase or help them meet a deductible if needed.
So really, we're trying to meet businesses where they are, help them solve practical business problems as we try to turn the corner on the pandemic toward recovery.
This fund is not going to solve all of our public safety issues, nor is it going to solve all of our small business needs.
But it does provide a comprehensive, it does support the city's comprehensive approach to addressing the various and complex safety challenges that our communities and businesses face.
It's also just a great way of the city kind of showing up in a way that business owners have asked us to show up in years past.
So this storefront pit repair fund is a prime example of how we build a more inclusive economy where individuals, businesses, and communities can have access and opportunities to rebuild, recover, and revitalize, and hopefully generate long-term wealth and thrive.
So with this announcement, I'd like to now introduce Mayor Harrell to provide some additional remarks.
Mayor Harrell, please.
Thank you, Marco.
Good day.
Clap on a good day.
Good day to be alive.
This is an exciting project that we're doing, and I first want to recognize Mo Khan, the owner of Cedar's Restaurant.
The go-to dish, buttered chicken and garlic bread, naan.
That's the go-to.
If there's anything that gets broadcasted, let's talk about that.
In addition to this program that we're rolling out, I want to start by acknowledging that, particularly in this area, this is, last few weeks have been very tough here in the district.
And we don't take light of that whenever we're talking about public safety, whenever we're talking about people being injured in shootings.
that when we talk about protecting our student population and our neighborhoods, we have to acknowledge that our charter responsibilities, as I've said before, are to keep people safe.
That's not what this conference is about, but our commitment to safety and our commitment to economic revitalization are sort of part and parcel of building the One Seattle concept that we've done since we've taken office.
I want everyone to know that we're fully committed to working with the University of Washington.
I'll call later today, I believe, with the President, Ana Mari Cossi.
We've been speaking to leaders like Don Blakeney of the U District Partnership and others in this neighborhood about many things.
Of course, public safety and economic revitalization.
We believe in a comprehensive approach to public safety, where economic development and beautification and creating welcoming, activated spaces becomes part of our critical strategy.
When I announced our budget, I had a phrase in there that asked the question, when the plywood comes down, what will go up?
And we sort of wanted to tee it up in that sense that when we come out of the pandemic and emerge through what this country and what major cities are going through, what will this new city look like?
Well, we know that our new storefront repair fund that Markham talked about, which will provide businesses up to $2,000 to repair or reimburse property damage, part of the $2 million investment of federal dollars in economic recovery.
We know that that's part of our strategy.
Now we've heard loudly and clearly from businesses and business district leaders that they want property crime to stop.
I don't know Mo Khan's personal story, but I know personal stories from business owners, having been a small business owner myself, that often you start with just a vision.
You take a risk.
You know, there's a saying in business that you really can't make excuses.
You have to create the value, whether it's a service or product, and hope that people come.
And when you open up the doors, you don't know if there's going to be one person or 100 people, but you're hopeful.
And if there's only one person, you just have to go back to the drawing board and figure out, what can I do better to get the people to come?
And every single day, you're reactionary, but you're also proactive.
And so these kinds of partnerships become critically important because the city has to recognize, and I think Mark McIntyre is one of the best in economic development, in realizing that our partnerships have to be intentional.
It starts with our narrative, our commitment, our resources, our relations for our federal government, and that's what this represents.
Now, this idea came from listening, listening to small businesses and saying how we can step up.
OED worked directly with business districts to run a successful pilot program, including right here in the university district.
This is a practical program to make things better.
We are not saying that this is the whole solution, but it's a step forward.
And that's what we strive for every day, a step forward in the right direction.
Now ultimately this is not about replacing broken windows, but about opening things back up and helping put eyes back on the street to activate our communities.
Making this a city that's inviting not just to visitors and tourists, but to neighbors and residents and community members.
We have a couple of council members here, Council Member Peterson and Council Member Nelson.
You'll see me in the next couple of months, hug them frequently because they're now holding the budget.
And it's very important for us to understand what we're trying to do.
That doesn't mean we're going to agree on everything, but it means that we are not questioning each other's intentions.
or motives that we're trying to get to a really good place.
And I have trust that it's going to be a great process.
I expect debate as there should be.
But I'll tell you that these two council members are demonstrating clearly their commitment to economic revitalization.
and economic, what I'll call economic hope and economic justice, looking at all small businesses and underrepresented businesses all around the 84 square miles of this city.
So I'm very honored to have them stand with us all in a united front in trying to do what we're trying to do.
Councilmember Sharon Nelson, as a small business owner, knows exactly the The issues I described with Mo, may I call you Mo, first name basis?
You called me Bruce, too.
Okay.
That's Mayor Harrell, actually.
You all speak the same language when it comes to small business, right?
And this kind of partnership under Markham's leadership becomes, again, critically important.
We don't expect.
things to be fixed overnight in this city or in this country.
But what we do expect to happen overnight are the relations we develop and that our every single program we do, our relationships with the federal government, our relationships with the state government, that that, again, is a step in the right direction.
And that's exactly what we're doing.
And so without further ado, I'd like to introduce Councilmember Sharon Nelson to say a few words.
And again, I look forward to our partnership.
You represent the best of the best.
small businesses putting their own, their most precious commodity in play for us to be a better city, which is your time, your energy, your commitment.
Thank you very much and I present to you Council Member Sarah Nelson.
Thank you, Mayor Harrell.
And thank you, Mo.
We were talking earlier today that when I was a grad student at UW back in the early 90s, this was where I would treat myself when I can afford it.
So thank you for having us today.
So, this is the first time that I've been back since January when less than a month on the job, I came here to do a tour of small businesses and I was joined by, well, people from the Mayor's Office, City Attorney Davison, Chief Diaz, Council Member Peterson.
We were here at the invitation of Don Blakeney to tour neighborhood businesses.
Don had written an email to all of council saying, Our community is under attack.
In the last few weeks alone, over 20 businesses have had their windows bashed in, shot, melted, and removed altogether during a string of events ranging from repeated acts of rage to coordinated theft rings.
And so we walked around the neighborhood and we listened as one employer after another told us their story.
And they were similar to those that I'd heard on tours of Columbia City and Belltown and countless emails that our office had received.
For example, I live right over there, about seven blocks away is the Crow Flies, and my neighborhood store has had its windows broken by rocks thrown in.
My staff and I went to Columbia City and visited the little smoke shop on Rainier Avenue.
just drove through just to get at the ATM inside.
So these stories are not uncommon.
I'm sure you've heard them from your neighbors.
You've seen them yourself.
So I decided that we had to do something, and I wanted to bring visibility to this issue.
And I'm Chair of Economic Development, and we cannot have recovery in this city without a foundation of public safety.
And so on, I think it was February 9th, I convened a panel of small business owners and representatives from across the city.
And we're talking West Seattle and the CID, Ballard, Pioneer Square, Soto, etc.
And I invited them not just to talk about the impacts of crime on their businesses, their staff, their customers, and their own livelihoods, but also to come with some ideas.
some concrete ways that the city can provide immediate relief to these business owners.
And so, that's what we came up with.
They asked for, at the top of their list, assistance replacing damaged storefronts.
And in case you don't know, A broken exterior door, glass door, costs about at least $2,000 to replace.
And you can't just bill your insurance, as was noted before, because you don't want to lose your policy, you don't want your premiums to go up.
And so this is a cost when repeated over and over again is enough to close a business.
You know, frankly, it really is.
It's expensive, and we just saw last Friday that Viet Ngo in Little Saigon just closed on Friday.
The business has been there for about 40 years or so.
We've already addressed the elephant in the room and I have to acknowledge that when we're talking about property crime does not compare to the horrors that occurred over this past weekend in the U District.
So my heart goes out to the to the victims and their loved ones who've been injured or killed, and also to a community that's got a lot of really positive things going on right now.
Look just out the window.
Lots of change, lots of positive energy.
And it's now in shock over what happened.
But all things along the whole spectrum of the public safety crisis that the city is experiencing right now, all of that demands action.
Demands that we do something.
And some things are easier to address than others, right?
So that's what we're doing today.
And I have to say that as we comprehensively work toward improving public safety in the city of Seattle, these storefront repair grants will do something direct.
They will provide direct assistance.
They get cash in the hands of small businesses to go on doing business here.
And it goes beyond that.
It goes beyond simply helping the individual business.
Because when you see a bunch of storefronts that are boarded up in a neighborhood, it brings down the character, the morale.
And so what we're really talking about today is revitalization.
It's about bringing our city back.
It's one step along that long continuum.
And I'm proud that we're actually making a difference.
So I want to thank the Mayor and the Office of Economic Development for joining me in this effort and sending the signal to our small business community that your voice matters at City Hall.
It matters.
We're listening.
We're trying to help.
So with that, I would like to introduce Don Blakeney.
Don and his team at the U-District Partnership produce seasonal events and partner with area organizations to build community and bring visitors to the University District events such as U-District Night Out, the annual street fair, summer movie nights, and new festivals like Boba Fest and the Cherry Blossom Festival.
And that's in addition to all the work that he does creating opportunities for networking and collaboration through the University District Business Network and the many other services they provide to local businesses, because that's what BIAs do.
So with that, take it away.
Thank you, Council Member Nelson.
I'm going to place this here.
Thank you.
Excellent.
Hello, I'm Don Blakely.
I'm the Executive Director of the U District Partnership, and I'm thrilled to welcome Mayor Harrell, Councilmembers Nelson and Peterson, and Director McIntyre to our neighborhood this morning.
On behalf of the hundreds of small businesses and organizations who operate in the ground floor commercial spaces of the U District, I'd like to thank our city partners for their commitment to supporting Seattle's unique and vibrant neighborhood business districts.
Our organization, the U District Partnership, as Sarah Nelson mentioned, works hard to improve and promote the University District by providing a range of economic development services.
We provide technical assistance, neighborhood cleaning, safety ambassadors, marketing and events, planning and policy work, as well as homeless outreach.
Standing here today, it's not hard to notice the U District is in a fortunate position to be one of Seattle's fastest growing neighborhoods with thousands of residential units under construction just within a few feet of our conference here today.
with 20 new towers coming in, and they will redefine the skyline of North Seattle.
Students and faculty are finally back on UW campus, and we have a new light rail station that brings people to the neighborhood from around the region, including Roosevelt High School, where lots of high school students come down for bubble tea, because we have the highest concentration of bubble tea.
However, as we saw this weekend, this vibrancy and prosperity is fragile and can't be taken for granted.
Like many cities, Seattle's facing major issues that impact our neighborhoods and need to be addressed.
It was about a year ago that the U District saw a rash of vandalism that resulted in about 30 small businesses having their storefront windows broken, damaged, or bashed in.
While some of this was related to smash and grab thefts, most of the damage was caused by people living with deep, unaddressed behavioral health issues.
In talking with our community members, we learned that on average, a broken window can cost between $1,000 and $2,500 to replace.
One of our new businesses had to spend over $5,000 before they even opened their doors to welcome customers in.
This is a lot for a small business to absorb in normal times, let alone during a pandemic when these impacts are compounded.
With all of the other stresses that a small business could be facing at this time, it's no surprise that repairing a front window could fall lower on the list of priorities behind staffing and other costs of goods.
However, when aggregated, dozens of boarded up windows can have a devastating effect on the vibrancy of a neighborhood, taking eyes off the street and sending a message that people are not welcome here.
I want to thank the city and the U District BIA for moving swiftly last winter to stand up a pilot window repair fund that offered up $1,000 in financial assistance to any business that had seen their windows broken or vandalized.
This pilot program had an immediate positive impact on the look and feel of our neighborhood and became the foundation for the program that we're here to announce today and has already served over 30 businesses in the U District.
These grants have provided much needed help to our small businesses and have dramatically improved the overall vibrancy of our commercial district.
On behalf of the U District, I thank the Mayor, Mayor Harrell, and Council Member Nelson and Peterson, and Director McIntyre.
And now I'd like to introduce the third generation owner of Cedar's Restaurant, who is also a board member of the U District Partnership and a recent beneficiary of the Pilot Window Program, Mo Kahn.
Thank you, everybody.
I'm very honored to be here.
I'm very honored to host Bruce and the entire team.
The last three years in the U District have been exceptionally hard.
And just to let you know, my father came here about 40 years ago with zero money in his pocket and worked small jobs, literally through perseverance, hard work, and grit, was able to purchase restaurants and build at least 15 restaurants throughout his entire career.
Small business ownership has always been tough.
The last three years have been exceptionally tough.
But with the partnership of the U District partnership and the support of the city, we feel like our voice is being heard and we feel like we're being seen and supported.
And so initiatives like this just you know, echo the whole narrative of, you know, hard work and perseverance that we need to continue to have, but it makes us feel good that we have a community and a city that's really focusing on small businesses to continue to support us.
So I just want to thank Mayor Harrell, Don, Daniel, and the entire team here in the U District and the City of Seattle, and I look forward to continually working with everybody to move things forward.
Thank you.
Thanks again for hosting us and sharing your story.
I just want to reiterate thanks to Mayor Harrell and his leadership, his willingness to focus on economic revitalization and economic hope.
I want to thank both council members Nelson and Peterson for their commitment to listening to small businesses at City Hall and championing policies and programs for them.
I want to thank the team at OED for taking this idea and running with it.
It was a real hurry-up exercise, but we know that our small businesses are in need, so we wanted to make something happen.
And I want to thank Don and his team at UDistrict Partnership for raising this, as well as the other BIAs and other community and neighborhood groups for really lifting up their needs in their business districts and their communities and bringing them to the city.
As Mayor Harrell said, partnership is foundational for progress.
And so we really just want to make sure that the city is an excellent partner, that we're listening, and that we're trying to provide practical solutions to problems that people are facing.
With that, we'd love to open it up for any questions from the audience.
I'm wondering why things like graffiti and shoplifting are covered.
We've been hearing from a lot of businesses in the neighborhood here that they're spending hundreds of dollars at a time cleaning up graffiti.
So it would seem like if this doesn't cover that, that they're still going to be on the hook for quite a lot of money.
And then I'm also wondering, as Council Member Nielsen mentioned, it can cost up to $2,000 to repair a window at any time.
So if all they've applied for is $2,000 of one of these grants, well, it would seem like that would only cover one time of one of these grants happening, when clearly this is happening over and over again.
Sure.
So I'll answer the last question first, and then work my way back.
So $2,000, we wanted to serve as many businesses as possible.
And so that's part of the reason we chose it.
As Don mentioned, we've kind of done a pilot program.
We've looked at some average costs for a broken window repair and felt that $2,000 was kind of right in that range of what it would cost a business.
We would certainly love to help more, but we're looking at kind of the funds that we have available and trying to make a program that's going to help as many businesses as possible kind of right out of the gate.
As far as graffiti, there are other programs that the city and others can offer for graffiti abatements.
It's something we're going to continue looking at and looking at with other city departments for how we can both prevent it but also then try to remove it.
And similar to this program, look at how it's costing a business and what can the city do in partnership to try and help relieve that.
Yes?
How many businesses got money in the pilot program and where did that money come from?
Actually Don, I'd point to you guys if you want to start.
I'm looking at Daniel.
I think it's about $35,000, at least in our pilot program.
I know there's another pilot program in Pioneer Square.
And that money came from a combination of city grant from OED and also the BIA funds.
There was a $20,000 match from both sides, so it was a $40,000 pot that we pulled from.
I'm wondering, you proposed investing in a program called Shot Spotter in the budget.
And I'm wondering, why invest in that as a gun violence prevention when it's been shown to not be particularly effective in their concerns about targeting communities of color?
So implicit in your questions are a few facts that you cited incorrectly.
Let me correct you.
ShotSpot is not listed in the budget.
It's a technology called the acoustic gunfire locating system.
That's the technology.
ShotSpot is one of many companies that offers this technology, so I don't believe the term ShotSpot is in the budget, number one.
Number two, it's never touted as a gun prevention or violence prevention tool.
It's an evidence gathering tool.
And what occurs often after the fact.
is that people look for camera technology.
They talk to eyewitness people who are actually on the scene to see what occurred.
But camera technology becomes a very useful tool in gathering evidence.
What this technology does is it triangulates the signal and it distinguishes a firecracker or a car engine from the distinct sound of a gunfire.
gunshot, and within a certain foot radius, it can tell where the shot was fired.
Right now, a complaint-based system would simply be someone calls in and say, I heard shots fired.
Well, where was it fired?
I don't know.
It was outside somewhere.
So this technology allows our evidence gatherers to determine where the shots were fired.
And as an ancillary piece of equipment, could triangulate the sound and go right to where it was, perhaps there would be a car speeding away.
So cities across the country have used this technology as an evidence gathering tool, not a violence prevention tool.
And it's been effective.
And so we think that a pilot exploring this technology would be appropriate, and we put it in our budget.
Did that answer your question?
Yes.
Question about the repair fund.
How is this going to be doled out?
Is it going to be first come, first serve?
If I'm a business looking to capitalize on this, what do I need to do?
Give us some outline of that.
Sure.
On the implementation, would you want to pick that up?
Sure.
As I mentioned, we're doing this in a rolling basis.
So once the applications open on October 18th, it's first come first serve.
We are trying to prioritize businesses that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
So women and minority owned businesses, as well as in certain census tracks that have had higher proportion, higher proportion of impact for the pandemic or crime.
So It's first come, first serve.
That's part of the reason we wanted to announce it ahead of when the actual application launches so that we can make sure we get the word out and businesses that have been impacted have a chance to apply and take advantage of this.
Yeah.
Do you talk about, is there rules about gross revenue to make sure it's a small business?
And then also just when we talk about how to apply, is this going to be online only and without raising the equity concerns?
How are you going to deal with that?
Sure.
We're looking deeply at the equity concerns.
And first and foremost, it's making sure that we translate all the materials into a variety of different languages so that people can access it.
We're also going to be working with a variety of neighborhood and community groups to make sure that they're doing outreach and providing some technical assistance to help fill out the forms.
Sorry, what was the first part of your question?
I also wanted to know, is there a gross revenue, are there rules about how much?
And then also, is this, it can only apply once?
Yes, so we're basing this off of our small business stabilization fund that we ran a number of rounds of throughout the pandemic.
And so it's got very similar thresholds to that.
So it's businesses with under 50 million, excuse me, under $7 million in revenue and under 50 employees.
And so we're definitely trying to target it towards small businesses, but we're also acknowledging that there's a diversity of small businesses that might have different revenue pictures.
For instance, grocery stores typically have higher net revenues, and so we want to make a threshold that was inclusive of as many small businesses as possible, but also really trying to focus on those that are most in need.
Yes?
We can share some more information about that.
We've done some kind of deep dives into the data about pandemic.
And so actually on our website, I think we've actually got some really good information, some data with some mapping on it.
So you can see visually, but also click in and kind of see a little bit finer detail about how we've made some of those decisions.
But again, I just point back to the great work the OED staff has done with federal dollars up to this point in a really hurry up basis as businesses are feeling a lot of pain to try to adapt and understand how we could be both equitable in our distribution, but really targeted and actually solve some problems.
Yep.
This goes back to January.
This is January this year.
Correct.
Have you seen a reduction?
2021. Sorry, it's 2021. It's 2021. Okay.
Okay.
There we go.
Yes.
What about accountability and deterrent for those who actually break the windows?
People might see this and say, well, what's being done to actually stop the damage from occurring?
How would anybody of you address that?
I mean, again, this is not a direct public safety measure, but what we are trying to do is try to make sure, as Don was saying, that we've got more eyes on the street, that we've got neighborhoods that feel welcoming and are asking and inviting people in, and that as people are walking around, they've got a sense of vibrancy and community.
And those have been proven in terms of comprehensive public safety to lower overall public safety issues.
targeting prevention.
That's certainly something that we at the city are looking at.
I know Mayor Harrell and his team are working on, the council members are working on, and certainly including in their budget considerations.
But this is just one piece.
As I said, this is not meant to be kind of a panacea, but we think that it's a focused, targeted solution that's going to make a difference both for the small business owners as well as the communities that they're in.
And following up on that, Mayor, you had said that you want the city to be safe and inviting, not just for tourists and visitors, but for all residents.
But taking all of that together, anecdotally, some of my colleagues going to the Mariners games in recent days have talked with tourists on light rail.
One guy from Australia said he felt so unsafe here, he will never come back to Seattle.
So moving forward, how can your budget or other things moving forward kind of help address all of that, since you say it is important to address?
Well, I think our budget reflected our commitment to public safety, and we wanted to be inviting.
I led with public safety, where most of our money goes to anyway.
And quite frankly, on the last question, to piggyback on the question that Eric Barnett asked, that there are different strategies.
As I said, the AGLS system that Eric asked about is not a crime prevention strategy, it's a evidence-gathering strategy, fixing broken windows while, yes, activating communities.
And we know that activation does play a role.
Quite canonically, we're not touting that as our public safety strategy.
It's one component of activating areas.
I think what we've tried to do in our administration is change the narrative to where we realize how safety should be a uniting element in our city.
When I talk about more police officers, people have something in mind that I'm trying to create a New York-like presence.
No, we want a sufficient amount of police officers to help us activate communities, build trust, have eyes on the ground.
When I hear stories like this person from Australia, you said Australia, I think, I then take back to my team is how can we make people not only be safer, but feel safer.
Sometimes there's the perception that they're not safe.
Sometimes they're not safe.
So whether it's how they feel or what they perceive as a perception, or the actual fact that we're bringing in real strategies that work.
I'm willing to explore new technology, new ideas.
And quite candidly, they come with some level of controversy, and I'm always prepared to defend what we're trying to do.
I go to other cities and I ask, what's working?
What's working?
It's not a difficult question.
What's working to make our businesses feel safer, our people to feel safer?
And you try to defend new approaches.
But as I said repeatedly, the status quo is not acceptable to this man.
One more budget question.
I'm talking.
I think it's related to a sense of disorder and safety.
Your budget proposes to cap the mandatory increase in wages for homeless or human services contracts.
That contradicts something you said a couple of years ago at the council about wanting to provide inflationary wages in times of economic downturns.
Can you address that?
Yeah.
You know, in your questions, I'm just going to be honest with you.
You used words that I just sort of pushed back on a little bit.
Because I didn't see what our policies are contradictory.
What I said in 2019, I believe, as the council president, is we have to recognize again, and I'm paraphrasing my own legislation here.
We have to recognize that social workers and mental health counselors and those providing some of these essential services are underpaid.
And through good times and bad times, we have to recognize that.
Simply put, not only do we have to recognize their wages, but we also have to think about the pipeline of people going into this work.
So my proposal, dealing with the $128 plus million deficit, my proposal where I'm asking departments to really tighten their belts or to speak to look at where we can save money, we came up with an increase of 4%, which would, in the long term, create anywhere between, I believe, seven to 12 million or so in savings, which can allow us to do other things to help the same communities that they serve.
And also recognizing that the council will look at that and will continue to have dialogues in what makes sense.
And so we think that what we propose is consistent with the values that we set forth.
The fact is that inflation is very, very high right now.
It's hurting everyone, and we're looking at what the state and the county and other jurisdictions are doing to grapple with this.
And we thought we had come up with what we thought was a balanced proposal, meeting the values that I stand for and the values that I've legislated in the past.
And so, again, the budget is a process, and there's going to be many components of it.
several page thick budget that they will go through and comb and I look forward to being available to defend anything that we propose in the budget and that's part of the collaborative process that the city undertakes every year.
Thank you.
Okay, all right so the go-to is what?
Butter chicken, garlic naan, Thank you all for being here.
And in all seriousness, I do want to close with something I said earlier.
We do recognize that there's been some issues here that beg the question about public safety.
I try to bring some level of levity or kindness or humor wherever I go because the issues we're facing as a city and as a country are very serious.
I've attended many funerals.
I've held many hands of people who lost loved ones.
And so I will try new things, Erica.
I will try new things, new strategies.
And I expect pushback.
That's fair.
But I close with saying, Mike, first, my charter responsibility is keep everyone safe.
And where we have failed, we will openly acknowledge that.
Where we can get better, we'll openly acknowledge that.
But we'll keep plowing ahead with council members, community members, business owners, community activists, even the media, to get our city safe once again in a place where we can call Seattle the greatest city in this country.
Thank you very much for being here.