Thread by @Deutski1

Livetweeting Bellevue's first City Council meeting after their August recess. Topics of discussion include: nomination to the Transportation Commission, B&O Tax amendment, and an update on city's Homelessness Outreach. The latter is what interests me most this evening.

Demographic data for the people that the city's homelessness outreach coordinator has contacted in 2020 & 2021. General note to @bellevuewa - "transgender" is not a gender itself, but rather an additional adjective to be used to describe one's gender (in contrast to "cisgender").

The fact that there's no reason given for why this informational presentation is being held this evening makes me believe it's in response to the conversation around Redmond & the Silver Cloud Inn purchase.

(Which, by the way, another Redmond City Council meeting is happening tonight where S*fe Eastside people are very likely going to use lies, misinformation, and hyperbole to oppose housing homeless people so they're no longer homeless. That fun starts at 6:30 pm).

Making the bet that one of the conservative CMs tonight will openly cite the controversy around Silver Cloud being proof of why it was good for Bellevue to go it alone on the 1590 funding - that the city could do with the money what it wanted & not be "forced by the County."

In addition to the scheduled proclamation on National Recovery Month, read by CM Barksdale, DM Nieuwenhuis reads a proclamation not on the printed agenda honoring the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and providing support for first responders.

First public commenter asking what the city's plan is for the people in RVs on SE 41st Pl. Says the road isn't wide enough for people's cars to pass large vehicles. Also concerned about tents she says she sees in "large amounts" at the I-90 entrance & 150th Ave SE.

Second commenter is a frequent conservative commenter who for once is actually asking for less parking! Says the neighborhood park in Newport Hills that's under construction hasn't had parking studies done, but since it's a neighborhood park it shouldn't need much parking.

Don't get your hopes up - it's because she doesn't want people coming in "from Newcastle or Renton" to use what "should be" a neighborhood park.

Transportation commission only got 4 applications this go around. For comparison, previous times I've applied have gotten around 19 and 29 applications. One can hypothesize that that drop-off might be because people realize their slim chances of getting on the body. @apardoe

I'm not going to get into the details of this, but tonight's discussion on the B&O tax is to provide recommendations to improve clarity and fix a Scrivener's error in the city's code. Should Council approve, an amendment would come on the Consent Calendar at a later meeting.

Here's a summary of those amendments, just in case you're interested.

Unrelated, but English "i"'s suck - they always throw me off in legal words.

Thought "proviso" was "proVEEso", though "Scivener's" would be "SCRAI-vener's", just gotta be confusing I guess.

A very quick discussion is done, and now we're moving on to the update on the City's Homelessness Outreach.

How poetic that, just as Bellevue's Homelessness Outreach coordinator is talking about permanent supportive housing as a solution to homelessness, the public outcry at Redmond's City Council meeting directed at exactly this type of facility is just scheduled to start.

This likely isn't new information for many of you, but surprise! Homelessness is racist too.

Black, Latino, and Native American populations are disproportionately likely to be homeless in King County.

The "buckets" of Bellevue's homelessness approach.

*sing song* One of these buckets is not like the other! One of these buckets does not belong..."

Ms. Martinez now describing what her first-time outreach with a new person usually is like.

Will have a member of Bellevue Fire Cares' team or a police officer to provide additional support, but really trying to get to the root barriers the person has without passing judgement.

Your city might be in an affordable housing crisis when....

In addition to having at least over 1000 homeless people in your region, you're literally short several thousand units of deeply affordable housing.

CM Barksdale is asking if there's ways for city to bring unhoused & housed neighbors together in outreach, to help build empathy & understanding. "We see the emails that come in..."

Also looking forward to when KCHRA can stop by for a presentation.

CM Robertson is asking how many people are actually outside in Bellevue, says that we need to understand the magnitude of the problem. She's "very disturbed" if what a previous commenter said was true, that there's a slew of tents preventing people from using public right of way.

*whispers* You might be a part of the problem if you seem, based on your rhetoric and demeanor, that you're more concerned by the nuisance that tents pose rather than by fellow humans living on the streets because of an unjust system & lack of affordable housing.

Ms. Martinez says that part of why she pushed for reporting through the My Bellevue app was so that the city can start to get more data around the actual count of people experiencing homelessness in Bellevue.

CM Zahn has apparently participated in two Point In Counts and can confirm that the number is likely an undercount. Asking what other resources Ms. Martinez needs to do her work, implying that she might need additional staff. Also is very interested in a safe parking program.

Staff says that Ms. Martinez has been involved in a lot of policy discussions around 1590 funds and around the Safe Parking pilot, so they've internally done some backfilling to make sure that the actual outreach needs are being met.

DM Nieuwenhuis supports allocating extra money towards better understanding the homelessness issue in Bellevue. Asking about if people are being referred to the Safe Parking programs that already exist and supports moving Bellevue's forward.

Ms. Martinez notes that there are several Safe Parking places on the Eastside for women and children, but only one for men, so that remains a tough nut to crack.

Nieuwenhuis also notes the community concerns that Council has received around the Silver Cloud Inn purchase & how it is very close to Bellevue. He asks for staff to address those concerns. Staff iterates that the property's been purchased, but the provider's still up in the air.

CM Stokes appreciates the updates, but feels like the city is moving slowly. Says the city needs to be more proactive in addressing homelessness before it happens. Says "Kirkland & Redmond are ahead" in some areas, and that some people are giving "terrible comments."

CM Lee, after praising Ms. Martinez extensively for her work, says that solutions to homelessness need to come "from the community" and that the city's response needs to be "focused."

Sure, Councilmember. But *which* community? Focused on *what*?

His "focus and emphasis is on really having the community behind you."

I would think the emphasis would be on listening to the experts and getting people housed, even if that pisses off certain community members. But then again, I'm not an elected official.

Mayor Robinson notes the consensus around the Safe Parking program and getting further data on Bellevue. "It's really a challenge to live in Bellevue.... We've got to have more housing in the entire spectrum, from 0-80% AMI."

In what seems to be a response to the concerns around Silver Cloud, Ms. Martinez notes that oftentimes behavioral health and drug concerns can only be first addressed after an individual is housed. Part of why a proactive approach is so important to her.