♪♪
-Hello, I'm your host, Brian Callanan.
A new amendment relating to Seattle's
Equitable Development Initiative
is drawing heat from several communities of color.
Plus, a proposed measure to lower at based
delivery driver wages has prompted a response
from Seattle's Ethics and Elections Chief.
I'm with Councilmember Tanya Woo and Councilmember Bob Kettle
to discuss these questions and the ones you are sending in too,
next on Council Edition.
-So I've been to most of the Compromise and Plan meetings
and hearing from everybody that they would like
to see more growth, more density.
-What happened to Chief Carmen Best was wrong.
You talk about you want to recruit women;
well, you can't have that as the example.
-All that and more coming up next
on City Inside/Out: Council Edition.
♪♪
And I am glad
to welcome Citywide Councilmember Tanya Woo.
Thank you very much for being here.
-Thanks for having me.
-And I also want to welcome Councilmember Bob Kettle,
representing District 7 from downtown up to Magnolia.
Thank you for taking part as well.
-Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.
-Well, let's jump right into it if we could.
We are recording the show shortly
after the council passed a budget amendment to Seattle's
Equitable Development Initiative program,
which supports projects for communities of color,
as you know.
So initially this amendment sponsored
by Councilmember Rivera would've put a proviso
on about $25 million worth of funding for EDI projects
until more than $50 million already allocated
to the EDI would get spent.
That proviso has been removed,
but the council did vote eight to one
to pass a measure asking for a detailed report
on all EDI funded projects by September 24th.
Councilmember Morales was the only no vote.
She said in a press conference
that this amendment has many communities
of color feeling like EDI projects
are going to be first on the chopping block,
come budget time.
-We need the mayor and the rest of the council
to show bold leadership and to demonstrate our commitment.
Our commitment as a city,
the city of Seattle's commitment
to not balancing this budget on the backs of our Black
and Brown neighbors.
-Councilmember Rivera said after the vote,
these EDI projects were never at risk.
But she did recognize there are a lot of communities of color
very concerned about this.
Councilmember Kettle, help me out with this.
What message are you trying to send to these communities
with this vote asking for detailed reporting?
-You know, this goes to good governance.
And one point I want to make, and as I said yesterday,
the carryover money and this year's budget money
was never at risk.
You know, we support the program.
-Yeah.
-I support the equitable development initiative,
full stop.
-Okay, yeah. -And, you know, --
-Can you see how people were concerned?
-Yes.
-I want to make sure I bring that up.
-And, you know, I spoke to that.
You know, there was a combination of things.
You know, our budget chair was in China with Councilmember Woo
so that didn't help.
The Memorial Day weekend and the tightness of the scheduling
with the carry forward bill.
And to Chair Strauss's point too,
standard was not to use a carry forward legislation too,
but a proviso win.
But it was the opportunity to look at the EDI program,
and I think that is kind of conflation of events in a way,
but the money was never at risk.
That's the first thing that needs to be said.
And, you know, it goes to good governance.
And I recognize the point, "Hey, you're looking at this."
As I said yesterday, trust me. -Yeah.
-The public safety departments, offices,
and commission get looked at so much.
I have bills right now that we're doing this.
We did it with the vacant building
with the fire department.
-We're going to bring up that in a little bit.
-Yeah. So we're --
this reporting piece is across the board.
EDI is not being, you know, kind of singled out.
-Okay.
-It seems like it in this case,
but trust me, particularly on the public safety SPD,
they have to do a lot of reporting.
-Okay. Fair enough.
Some thoughts here, please, if you would.
-Yes. And this council knows
how important EDI funds are to the community.
Many of us are in community.
We know many of these stakeholders
who are involved in EDI projects and we want them to succeed.
So we want to know how -- what can we do as a council,
what we can do as a city
to help push these projects past the finish line
so that we can have these programs out in the community.
And so I think it's really important
to know where we're at.
And I think most of that work has been done by OPCD.
And so --
-Office of Planning and Community Development.
-Yes. -Keep going. Yeah. You got it.
-And so how do we talk about these,
how do we help these programs become successful
is what my priority is? And these are amazing programs.
And I think we all agree that as a council,
that we need to protect this funding.
-Got it.
And I just wanted to kind of key in on that one part there,
because I think some of the people
who are looking for funding are saying,
"Well, you know, it would really help us
if we got some more assistance from the city.
We're not really groups
that necessarily go for grant funding all the time.
Maybe we're not as familiar with it."
Do you see that logic to it?
Maybe that support is needed.
Go ahead. -I definitely see that.
You know, that may come out of this report
as part of looking into it.
It's like, you know, we do tiger teams all across,
you know, the board.
We do it with UCT.
We've done it a whole bunch of areas and maybe --
-Tiger teams. Yeah. -Tiger team effort.
So maybe there's a requirement to kind of bring
in more formally SDCI
and so forth to address whatever hiccups there may be,
whatever hurdles there may be with the EDI
to make sure that it is moving forward.
You know, here's another thing too, is really important.
It is so fantastic to have such a wide diversity
of background on the council.
And Councilmember Woo has direct,
you know, experience with this.
-That's right.
-For me, it's come through public safety.
I've been meeting with a couple EDI business is part of the,
you know, 23rd and on Union in terms of public safety issues,
so I was coming again from public safety.
But those, the ladies that have these businesses fantastic,
and the great representation of the EDI program.
-Okay.
-But Councilmember Woo has even more deep insight
into this process.
Councilmember Hollingsworth has great insight into this process
and we bring that together.
And ultimately, it's about making sure
that the program is successful.
-Yeah.
Councilmember Woo, just to wrap up,
you're talking with a lot of these different groups
and you're kind of feeling out what's going on here
and how people feel about this.
Let me know about this,
the message you're trying to send to these folks
that are looking for funding and maybe concerned about it.
-Yes.
I think we -- council understands
how important these groups are.
Especially, we're so thankful that they've come out
and let us know about their concerns.
-Yeah.
-And having that top of mind is really important.
And so I think there needs to be,
I was communicating with some of these EDI stakeholders
this last week, having that extra week
I believe was really helpful.
And I'm really thankful
that people were so gracious regarding that.
And so I would love to be able to build back up
that trust with community groups and the council
to have people realize
that we really do want to see them succeed.
We really want to help and to please come to us
if there are any concerns going forward.
-Thank you very much for that.
I want to shift gears to the city's pay up law
to raise app-based delivery driver wages.
This went into effect in January.
App companies responded by placing a $5 fee
on their deliveries,
which many restaurants say has hurt their business.
We're talking about DoorDash,
some of these other apps out there.
So Council President Nelson proposed legislation
to lower delivery driver wages to Seattle's minimum wage
as a way to encourage the app companies to drop those fees
and hopefully build up business again.
Councilmember Woo,
the council was set to vote on this recently,
but Wayne Barnett,
executive director of Seattle's
Ethics and Elections Commission had some concerns.
That's where this email from our viewer Blake
comes in, who says this.
The SEEC issued a statement recommending
that you recuse yourself from the app-based
worker wage law vote due to your father-in-law's
business using delivery apps.
What are your thoughts on this recommendation?
What has been the guidance from other members
of the Ethics Commission besides Wayne Barnett?
I know you're still in the process with this.
Can you explain where you are
and what's going on here, please?
-Yes.
I'm still waiting to meet with the Ethics Commission.
And so until then I have to recuse myself from debating
or talking about this issue.
But I appreciate the question
and I'll definitely update everybody
once we get to a decision. -Okay. Fair enough.
I wanted to make sure I covered that with you there.
-Thank you.
-So, and I appreciate you bringing up what you did.
Maybe I can talk to you about this Councilmember Kettle,
because I know you worked on some amendments
to this legislation.
If you want to talk about that, please do.
But I really did want to talk about what it means
to delay this vote a little bit further.
Because Council President Nelson really saw this
as an urgent matter impacting small businesses
like restaurants.
So what does it mean to hold this vote
potentially several weeks
after this legislation was intended to be passed?
-Well, there's a lot going on with the council.
As you know,
our vacant building abatement bill was an emergency bill.
And so we're working those pieces too.
So, you know, we have so many different issues going on.
And, you know, this is a lesson learned
from being a Councilmember.
You know, I have a great background coming into this,
but it's the volume of different topics and issues.
And we're working all these things, you know,
the transportation levy, the transportation plan,
comprehensive plan.
So there's a lot of things that are playing out right now.
And so we wanted to ensure
that we're moving forward on legislation.
So it's not really a delay, like a big delay,
but part of it is traffic management in terms
of what we're trying to do legislatively.
And I think that is something that's important.
And, you know, part of this too
is it kind of goes to the earlier question.
You know, given a short period of time,
also, you know, can help.
And, you know, so in the first set,
you know, I came in with my amendment in terms
of like the reporting piece, you know, the data.
-Making sure that data has come in
so it can be monitored by the city.
-Exactly. Which goes to good governments,
goes to the office of labor, OLS, labor standards.
And so now we're looking to, you know, do more of that.
And for me to be upfront, the hard -- I have great sympathy.
I, you know, the public comment period, it is true.
I hear them all the time. -Yeah.
-But I also hear on the delivery side,
there's competing voices. -Absolutely.
So the restaurants are saying, "We're losing businesses."
Drivers are saying, "Don't cut our wages." You bet.
-And ultimately, it's about the restaurants.
It's about that labor segment.
After the restaurants, you know, the servers, the back kitchen.
Because at the end of the day,
you know, particularly with the minimum wage related
to restaurants later this year,
if we don't have any restaurants next year,
then this becomes a mute-point.
Because there's nothing to deliver
because the restaurants are shut down.
-I see.
-So the tie breaker for me is what's best for the restaurants.
-Got it.
Councilmember Woo, I get it that you can't debate the point here,
but is there any sort of timeline
when we think this could be revisited by the council?
Is there anything that we can say about that
or what do we know? Not yet, I guess.
-Not yet. -Okay.
-I think that will be evident soon.
-Okay. All right. Thank you.
I wanted to make sure I covered all the bases I could,
and I appreciate that we're dealing with a sensitive matter.
So thank you very much.
I will say we're talking with a lot of big headlines
over the past few weeks here,
including Adrian Diaz being relieved
of his duty as police chief.
He spoke at the press conference
where he was transitioned to a special projects role.
He was very emotional about this major change.
Here's a short clip.
-I want to thank the men and women
of the Seattle Police Department for their hard work --
-- and the community
that has supported us through every challenge.
Thank you. -Thank you.
-Well done, Chief.
-That's former Chief Diaz there embracing Interim Chief,
Sue Rahr in that moment.
The former King County Sheriff now taking this interim role.
So Diaz loses this job in the midst
of sexual harassment investigations against him.
Some legal cases involved with discrimination, potentially.
Councilmember Kettle,
I just wanted to make sure I talked with you about this
because you are the head of the council's
Public Safety Committee.
This is a major shakeup.
And I just wanted to get your general feeling
of what kind of impact this is going to have on the SPD.
-It is a major piece.
And first, I had a lot of meetings with Chief Diaz,
very professional.
We talked a lot of issues.
As you know, in public safety
there's many very frank discussions pushing forward.
And I want to say that first.
But I'm also cognizant of the fact the City Attorney
is also working from her perspective on litigation,
you know, related to the, you know, the claims.
-Yeah.
-And so I, in my role, as a, you know, official role,
I can't be speaking to that aspect of it.
-Right.
-But as I said in other places is that, you know,
sometimes for the good of the organization,
you know, it's best to move on.
And I'm not making any judgment.
I just said, you know, I have very good, you know,
collegial relationship, you know, good working relationship.
But, ultimately, it's about the organization
and what's best for the organization.
So I say I respect
and support the mayor's decision on this front.
-Got it.
And I'm going to keep going on this a little bit with you,
if I could, Councilmember Woo.
I'm thinking about the 30 by 30 report on the SPD
with the goal to have 30% of SPDs sworn officers
be women by the year 2030,
raised a lot of concerns about the SPD
that may even go beyond Adrian Diaz.
I'm talking about this hyper-masculine culture
that was brought up in that report there.
I just wanted to ask this bigger question of;
how does the Seattle Police Department change that culture?
Is Interim Chief Rahr going to be able to do that?
How's that going to happen? What do you think?
-So I'm really excited
that Interim Chief Sue Rahr will be in place
because she's done so much work regarding --
-For decades. Yeah. -Yes. Regarding the subject.
And so it's something we really tackle head on
and a priority for the department, I believe.
And so I'm excited that,
you know, she's an expert in her field
and the knowledge and the history and the data
that she brings towards the subject is going to be valuable.
-Yeah.
Also, former head
of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.
So she has a long, long history with it.
Any thoughts on that whole culture change idea,
Councilmember Kettle?
-You know, I've been upfront with a number
of folks as a naval officer.
We went through the same thing in the '90s.
You know, 1992,
I was deployed off the coast of Bosnia, Yugoslavia,
6,000 men on the aircraft carrier.
Shortly thereafter women were incorporated
in those deploying units.
And it was a rocky road for a long time.
And now we have a chief of naval operations,
who's a four-star woman admiral.
-Yeah. -So this shows progress.
Bottom line is, we have to -- leadership,
starts with leadership.
You know, we have to be setting the expectations.
And that comes from the top.
And it also comes from our role in terms of
like that kind of oversight role and the, like, you know,
the upper management piece as I often say.
-Right.
-But it's also about building up the sergeants
and empowering the sergeants and ensuring that they're set.
And that is the key piece
that I'm working on with my staff working with SPD,
with OIGOPA and the rest of the accountability partners.
It's this combination
that we need to really affect change in terms
of the culture related to women serving in SPD.
-Yeah.
And just if I can follow up on that point
and talk about building up sergeants
and other people in the department.
In terms of who the permanent chief should be,
should it be someone from inside the department?
Should Seattle look outside the SPD?
Some thoughts there?
Do you have some thoughts on that?
-I think I heard that they're looking for someone outside SPD.
-Potentially. Yeah. -Yes, potentially.
But yeah,
I'm interested to see what the application process
will look like and going forward and who applies.
-Who these candidates will be.
Any thoughts on that Councilmember Kettle?
-Well, that goes to the point about, you know,
building up sergeants.
You're building up your leadership cadre
and then the lieutenants, the captains,
and then the senior staff.
And given the circumstances right now, you know,
the search committee will do its work.
-Of course. Yeah.
-But there may be, we may be going outside, and we'll see.
And as part of the due diligence
that we need to do as part of this search process.
-Thank you.
-And I look forward to working with Chief Rahr
as part of this as well. -Yeah.
It's going to be an interesting time here.
Thank you both for breaking down some very sensitive issues.
I appreciate it.
Let's continue with SPD and Councilmember Kettle you
co-sponsored a measure with Council President Nelson.
The council recently passed this.
This was on police recruitment and retention.
So over the past two years,
the council has some hiring bonuses put in place.
They recently raised wages too for the SPD.
But that hasn't stopped the SPD from losing officers according
to the most recent data here.
What is this new bill going to do
that will be different than what the council was doing before
when it comes to recruitment, retention of officers?
Do you think it's going to have a different impact?
-I think it will have an impact,
but you can't look at it as this is going to be the, you know,
the piece that makes it happen.
-It's one of many pieces.
Okay. -It comes back to leadership.
We have a massive change with the council and the committee
and in terms of how we're engaging,
how I'm engaging with the police force and they know it.
-Yeah.
-We button, you know, these things in place.
We did, you know, the spa contract?
The interim spa contract, that is huge.
-Yeah. It's a big deal.
-So first starting with leadership,
but then the spa contract is huge.
-Yeah. The Police Officers Guild.
Keep going. -Yes, Police Officers Guild.
And then on top of that, you know,
the recruitment and retention bill.
The executive have been doing a lot of changes
to streamline and get better in terms of the recruitment piece,
but we needed more work.
And in some of the leadership pieces
need to be buttoned in place.
That's why we have it all one in SPD.
And so we've made progress there.
Then previously to -- we had the bonuses piece.
And now we have, you know, this, you know, bill,
bringing it all together is going to be key.
-I see.
-You know, and what's also important,
going back to 30 by 30.
In my last committee, I basically said,
"Hey, we're drawing a line.
What happened to Chief Carmen Best was wrong.
You talk about you want to recruit women;
well you can't have that as the example."
So as part of the leadership piece,
we have to call that out
and call the council's role in that out and say,
"Hey, that was wrong.
I acknowledge it. We're going to move forward."
And one way to move forward is to work the 30 by 30 piece.
-Okay. Thank you very much.
Councilmember Woo,
maybe some thoughts about these police hiring bill.
What impact it could have on the SPD.
-Yes.
So I want to echo Councilmember Kettle.
Like it's going to take time.
It takes a year for an officer to go through the academy.
And of course we have Before the Badge is an amazing program.
And so it's a very complicated subject.
There's a lot of moving parts
and it all plays into things like culture and morale.
And so I think that's something council is prioritizing
and really looking into.
-Yeah.
Do you have a good hope or a good feeling
that this is going to improve a picture
that has not been going the way
the council has wanted it to in terms
of police hiring going forward?
-Well, I hear that there are more applications
being submitted nowadays versus what it was a year ago.
-Right. -If that's correct.
And so I'm hopeful that, you know,
we will be able to get our numbers up
and especially going to the summer now
where there are more events
and we're going to see more overtime hours
and so hopefully going forward.
-Yeah, there's some urgency here.
-Yes, there is.
-For sure. All right. Thank you very much for that.
Councilmember Woo, I'm going to stick with you
and talk about the comprehensive plan, if I will.
Always the funnest part of the show for me.
So there's the roadmap, of course,
for how Seattle is supposed to grow over the next 20 years.
And this is the year
that Seattle is going to update that plan.
I know you've been to a number of different public forums
on this and the deadline for public input was extended,
but it just wrapped up in May just a few weeks ago.
I've gotten a lot of different questions
about this plan like this one from one of our viewers,
Garrett, who writes this.
How do renters or first-time buyers stand a chance in Seattle
if the comprehensive plan includes nowhere near
the number of units necessary to keep up with growth?
Thank you, Garrett, for that question.
Councilmember Woo,
where do you stand on this issue of perhaps adding more density
as a lot of people have said above and
beyond what the mayor has proposed here?
-Yes.
So I've been to most of the comprehensive plan meetings
and hearing from everybody that they would like
to see more growth, more density.
And then hopefully everyone's
couple comments will have gotten through
and we will see the mayor's final draft come forward soon,
most likely at the end of the summer, beginning of fall.
It's running a little bit late.
But there's a massive amount of data
they're putting together.
And so I agree.
I think we need to be able to build more.
But also, the important aspect is implementation.
How do we allow for more developments to take place?
I mean, we look around and we see
that development is pretty much stalled.
And I think having council look at
these different implementations
and different incentive programs;
MFTE, MHA and then possibly some future legislation,
how do we kickstart that growth? -Right.
-So that, you know, we have this plan that guides us,
but how do we implement it and how do we allow
for it to be easier to build? -I see what you're saying
that we're talking about the multifamily tax exemption
and mandatory housing affordability;
just to get through the acronyms there.
And can you get a little more granular?
Is there anything a particular
that you want to recommend when it comes to density?
Something where we're saying,
"Well, here's an obvious area we could change it."
Is there anything like that that jumps out at you?
-Yeah, so there are a couple of things
I think that jumps out that council is looking at.
So like, we're looking at the permitting process.
I believe we have a council meeting
that's going to focus on the auditor's report
regarding permitting and what they found --
what their findings have been.
We're looking at different legislative ideas
amongst ourselves.
It's great to have everybody in person.
The council has very highly collaborative
so that we're chatting
and talking about what we're seeing out in community.
And how do we jumpstart these things.
So there's a lot of things that are in the works.
And I think most importantly, you know,
council probably won't see the comprehensive plan
until late this year, early next year.
-Right.
-And so it's not too late to get everyone's comments in,
to get community feedback
and to maybe incorporate some of those ideas going forward.
-Okay. Great.
Councilmember Kettle, another question to you
coming from a viewer, Carl, who writes this.
How are you feeling about the current state
of the comprehensive plan?
What would you like to see changed?
Thank you very much for that, Carl.
Councilmember Kettle, your thoughts.
-I am supportive. I'm a count plan five guy.
And so we need to have all these elements come together
and we basically have to build on what we are doing.
We've had an incredible amount of building over the last decade
plus, you know, since I became a Seattleite a dozen years ago.
And I think we're building on that.
And part of this is just look at D7, District 7.
We came in this way because we went that way.
You know, regional center.
So now we have multiple regional centers.
And by the way, you have to work through all these name changes.
-Right. Of course. What they're called.
Yes. -Yes.
And then Urban Villages, so we've got more.
So we're building on that.
And so for me, looking forward, you know, there's a few things.
One is, you know, ensuring that we have varied types of housing.
I think that's really important in terms of
we can't have skinny town homes solely.
We have to have a mix.
You know, my last apartment was here in Seattle
was a triplex on the west side of Queen Anne.
And so those are the kinds of things.
You know, the AADU, DADUs, which also goes to --
-Generational dwelling units.
Keep going. Yeah. -Yeah, generational wealth and,
you know, anti-displacement strategy, too.
Very important.
So we can have to have these very types of housing,
that's important.
Two, I think we can probably do better
on the neighborhood nodes.
The centers, again, the name keeps changing.
-Yes.
-But I think we have opportunities
where we have like a little concentration of commercial
that we can maybe look to densify in that area.
But maybe, I would submit maybe not quite at the same radius.
You know, instead of having big circles,
maybe some long because usually along arterials,
along streets, you know, long, skinny rectangles.
-Ovals. Yeah. Okay. All right. Sure.
-And so that's something that I think we should look at,
you know, and just be -- take some chances here and there.
And by the way, plant more trees, too.
-Okay.
-Yes. I know, trees and houses.
-Because the council is going to be looking at that
too coming up here.
I know there's a lot of talk about that as well.
Councilmember Woo, I wondered
if I could throw a quick sidebar here
because I noticed the land use committee
you serve on is going to be talking about this idea
of converting office space into residential space.
I know this is just getting started,
but I wanted to talk about this in general terms
because I've sure heard a lot about office vacancies
staying high in the city of Seattle.
How would something like this work?
Do you have any thoughts about this?
-Yes. I love that idea.
I fully support it because that's something
my family went through when we developed the Louisa Hotel.
We took a shelf of an old historic building
and we developed it.
These developments are very expensive.
They cost three times more than a new development.
-Wow. In terms of converting a place?
-Yes. -Yeah, okay.
-And then, you know, you have the footprint, the building,
but you have to go inside
and make sure there's water and sewer and everything,
HVAC built out into it.
And so I think that'd be a great way
to activate our downtown areas, allow for more foot traffic.
I would love to see the preservation of the original use
of this storefront on the ground floor
if possible so that we can get more people and foot
traffic in those areas.
-Okay. -I think it's a great idea.
I would love to explore it further.
Another thing I want to add about the comprehensive plan
really quickly is the gentrification displacement
aspect that I hope will be there
when the mayor releases his full plan.
But it's really important, especially since,
you know, different neighborhoods experience
gentrification displacement differently.
So I think it's a very important aspect
that we have to talk about and we have to, you know, act on.
-Yeah.
Councilmember Kettle,
I'm picking up the pace ever so slightly here with you here,
but I did want to talk about this measure
the council recently passed on vacant buildings.
You co-sponsored this with Councilmember Morales.
We've got about 100 of these vacant
or derelict buildings in the city right now.
Your measure would give the fire department new authority
to call those buildings nuisances.
What effect is this going to have?
-I think it's going to have a great effect.
And, you know, there's two pieces.
There's the more immediate piece with the building itself,
but it also shows
that the city is not allowing the permissive environment
that it engenders.
Whether it's a public safety threat as from my committee
or from, you know,
the land use committee, that blight aspect,
economic development and so forth.
And so it's going to have a -- as Chief Scoggins says,
"It puts a period at the end of the sentence."
-Yeah.
-And so he's going to be able to move forward
and allow us to take action
that first addresses a public safety threat.
-Got it.
-And then we can also work the other pieces.
And by the way, this also goes to your previous question,
because I've talked to a number of people
who want to invest in these conversions
from commercial to residential. -Sure.
-But ultimately,
they want a safe base like in Pioneer Square.
You know, they want to invest,
but they're feeling the momentum.
They're feeling what the new council is doing
and what the committee and what the team is doing,
but they're a little bit hesitating.
And it comes down to creating that safe base.
If we create that safe base,
it's going to enable
and engender more of this conversion.
And it also could maybe forestall
and avoid some of the problems
that we have today with vacant buildings.
-Thank you. I'm going to try to jam in one more question
about the transportation levy, because it's hot right now.
You both serve on the committee there.
Councilmember Saka is the chair.
He's got this new proposal.
It could be the largest in city history
at $1.55 billion up from $1.45 billion
as the mayor proposed if voters say yes to this,
that would cost the median Seattle homeowner
about $500 a year up about 30 bucks from
where the mayor asked for originally.
Councilmember Kettle, here we go.
Our viewer, Robin, wants to know;
what do you think about the proposed changes
to the transportation levy?
Should we spend more on sidewalk?
Should we spend less on equity focused
neighborhood safety projects?
Do you have amendments you're proposing?
Robin, thanks for the email.
Some thoughts.
-Well, I've been engaging already,
so I don't have any specific amendments of the time.
We'll look through it again, but I've already been engaging.
So this is where like the good governance piece
like with the oversight, you know,
the committee that is so important to ensure
things are done right.
And make sure that we're moving along
and things can be adjusted as required.
It also goes to the freight piece,
which I've been talking about.
You know, the viability of our port.
We were a port city 100 years ago.
We're going to be a port city 100 years from now.
We have to ensure that it's a viable port.
And working the freight aspects of transportation are huge.
And then you look at the other pieces,
the transit security,
some of the changes from the chair versus the mayors.
You know, I think these are prudent and --
but overall, I think it's a great plan
that's going to build out our future in transportation,
which by the way, also plays into the comprehensive plan.
-You better believe it does.
Thank you.
Councilmember Woo, just a little bit more here.
Another viewer asked this.
Do you have any comments on the very deadly last two weeks
on our roads
and how you plan to use the upcoming transportation levy
to address unsafe streets?
Thank you for that. There was one other out there.
Can you please ask what the city's plans are
for stopping the high decibel drag-racing
takeover events late night on our city streets?
A lot of different questions about transportation.
Keeping our streets safe is a big one here.
Some thoughts about this to wrap up.
-Yes. We're not up to our Vision Zero goals.
And so I'm excited about this plan, transportation plan
because it gives them money for Vision Zero,
for more sidewalks.
And for also allowing for different districts,
the Councilmembers to have funding
to tackle really specific issues in their districts.
And so I'm really excited about that
and be able to --
you know, I drive along right near
where most of these accidents and deaths
have happened and we have to do something.
And so really excited to be able to have that funding go
towards community ideas
and hopefully with that district funding, see those happen.
-Okay. Thank you very much for this.
Unfortunately, all the time we have for now.
But thank you both for joining me
and I want to make sure that everybody else
sees us next time on Council Edition.
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