Thread by @TheUrbanAce

Ok CM Lewis town hall now. I will live tweet. Y'all know the drill~

venmo: houstonace
CashApp: $Archstar

#SeaBudget2021 #SeattleProtests

CM Lewis breaking down how much engagement he and his staff have done so far this year. Quite a bit!

CM Lewis breaking down the 2020 Budget Process now.

A reminder:

Issue Identification is Oct 15-21

Council Budget Actions and Statements of Legislative Intent
is Oct 28-30

Chair's Package is Nov 10

Committee Vote on the Package and Amendments is Nov.18-19

Final Vote Nov 23

We're in for a longggg two months. (to not mention the elections happening right now!)

The Budget Roles!

Mayor must submit at least 90 days before the next fiscal year and it must be balanced (city problems)

Council reviews and modifies the budget, ensure that it stays balanced. Budget must be adopted no later than 30 days prior to the next year.

Now showing the budget timeline in bigger form:

A reminder that the next Public Hearing is October 27th at 5:30pm.

Sales Tax revenue forecast. Basically we won't be back to 2019 spending until 2023 (unless we have a building boom~)

So tldr, basically every source of revenue has dropped b/c most of the taxes are regressive. The other notable one is the Real Estate Excise Tax, which I don't think will see as much revenue for a while until there is more development happening again.

Balancing the budget. Please note the proposed General Fund Reductions of $63MM as related to the $100MM investment in BIPOC communities.

A lovely long list of things related to the COVID-19 Response.

(lowkey it's always amazing to me that the City regularly breaks rules related to how information should be presented.)

(CM Lewis noting our low COVID rates which are related to some good measures we have but also b/c we are a really white city.)

Now CM Lewis is going into Homelessness Response.

He's giving a brief overview but you can dig around for my livetweet of the presentation from last week at the #SeaBudget2021 hashtag

CM Lewis saying (accurately) that homelessness is a housing issue. Noting that we need to increase the amount of investment related to Housing and Prevention. Slide below showing lack of change in that investment over time and even pre-COVID.

Now showing below where investments are coming from, including the one-time COVID funds. (39.3MM)

The entire HSD Homelessness budget is 135.2MM. Note that the King County Regional Homelessness Authority is $120.4MM and that Authority has not been stood up. In addition, Renton and Kent have opted out of the authority.

CM Lewis would like to have a separate town hall on the Regional Authority. (that's a good thing)

Breaking down more general details around COVID response...

...and then emphasizing COVID emergency, shelter, and prevention investments. Items are below:

CM Lewis notes that CM Sawant pointed out that the list below does not expanding tiny house villages (THVs). It is one of his priorities with the budget.

(Based on my estimates, the cost to create 5500, which would effectively eliminate unsheltered individuals, is around $60MM not including operations.)

CM Lewis wants to get creative and use the funds to aim and expand the amount of permanent shelter once we come out of the emergency.

CM Lewis describing the success of Vancouver's study related to diversion and income support. Study is here:

cbc.ca/news/canada/br…

And now we're talking Navigation Team Mark II.

No longer will police be part of the team, but nothing is clear around what they will be allowed to do related to encampment removal.

(we're getting close to an hour and he's still talking.)

Office of Housing Base Budget!

Note the MHA Program, even in the downturn, will bring in $28MM for housing. And as has been shown, each dollar that comes into the city turn into $3 for affordable housing.

Now discussing how we get funding for renters to mitigate potential evictions and increases in homelessness. Long story short, we're going to need federal and state funding to fix this problem.

and now SPD! Goodie.

(lol at what he just said)

Anyway, here's the reduction to the budget. Most of these are really moves to other departments (like Traffic to SDOT) so take it with a grain of salt.

And this is the sworn officers (the ones with guns and other allowances) and how they are planned to be allocated. CM Lewis notes that per the Consent Decree they need at least 745 sworn officers, so that's something we need to work/organize on.

(BECAUSE CLEARLY MORE POLICE HASN'T WORKED)

We're talking the moves now. They are good and critical, they just don't defund the police in the way the community is looking to see.

Still, independent 911 is good.

OK and we're done with presentation! Now questions.

First Q: what do you propose to replace the Navigation Team with?

CM Lewis that the team was not the best or only response to homelessness. Says we have over 40 orgs we contract with. Stating he voted for removing police from the Nav Team and did not vote to eliminate the whole.

He wanted to lock in a full replacement before eliminating it. He was in the 4 of the 5-4 vote to eliminate. (I want to say the four was Strauss, Pedersen, Lewis and Juarez)

He is supporting of increasing funding for outreach and related issues to it.

(you can tell he's thinking really hard b/c he's blinking a lot)

Next Q around the encampment at Denny Park

Stressing we need to treat this as truly urgent

"We need to have some kind of Marshall Plan to get people inside."

(could we bond for tiny house villages?)

Noting that we simply do not have enough shelter and permanent supportive housing for those that need it.

Next Q: if the plan is to defund the police, what is the way we can fund public safety? (notes downtown being "unsafe" due to homeless encampments, etc)

CM Lewis notes that the amount of armed police is significantly lower in other countries and obligations are much more here.

Currently using an example around low level citations and parking enforcement that could be done by non-officers.

Noting the Philadelphia's Public Service Officer program. He's also making a thought that we could potentially reduce sworn officers through the consent decree b/c it expects that we don't have other options for public safety.

He also wants to make a point that the police budget has increased by 44% and crime has not gone down (by much, I missed a piece)

He also wants to see an expansion of the Health One program to multiple vehicles. (there is only one right now)

Next Q is what the CM is doing to support local businesses during this crisis.

CM Lewis responds saying we're limited in local relief but is working hard that any Community Development Block Grants come in he is working hard to get the money out the door.

He's also looking at potentially remitting B&O taxes for microbusinesses, which is limited, but is possible.

Also making note that an ordinance did pass that during the emergency if you are a business owner your landlord cannot go after your personal assets if you are delinquent on your commercial rent. (fairly notable!)

next Q: what will you do to get an off leash dog area in Upper Queen Anne.

He's working with his staff to get a dog run established at MacLean Park on East Queen. Also mentioned that Seattle Parks & Rec is projecting a major budget in the current budget.

Q related to investing in infrastructure on Queen Anne.

CM Lewis has submitted an issue spotting on traffic calming for 10th Ave W and Florentia. As someone who doesn't have a car, he wants to ensure there are more ped and bike improvements across the city.

Q: what he's doing to support businesses?

CM Lewis making a note that Jump Start Tax is a part of that, to reduce the reliance on regressive forms of tax in order to protect increasing costs to run a small business vs the largest companies that pay extremely high salaries.

CM Lewis hopes the state will move towards more progressive revenues like a capital gains tax.

He also wants to do performance auditing to check and make sure money is being spent appropriately.
(Hopefully he caught some of the discrepancies I saw in the 2021 FAS budget)

Q: what is the status of the Magnolia Bridge?

😑

CM Lewis thinks the best solution is the Ballard Interbay Regional Taskforce study which will provide recommendations for that bridge along with other bridges including Ballard bridge.

He is expecting there will be one package to cover all of it.

Last Q: what are you advocating to bring back downtown?

"First thing we need to do is get a handle on this virus."

One PSA he will give out is to go to Pike Place Market

Also noting that there's been an influx of homeless individuals downtown because there's nowhere else to go.

Saying that until we have places to put people, all we're doing is moving people around the city. "musical chairs"

Ok actual last question is about how to get involved. He is reminding people that the next public hearing is Oct 27th at 5pm. Also encourages emails and to sign up for his email list.

And that is it! Some interesting discussions and definitely curious to see how (and if) we see major cuts to SPD this budget.

B/c if not...I know y'all will be out there. (and I need a vaccine)

Until next time!