Hello Neighbors,   

Thank you for joining me last week and attending our District 6 Town Hall. Talking to District 6 residents is one of my favorite parts of being your city councilmember. If you are a D6 resident and would like to meet with me one-on-one to follow up on anything discussed during the town hall, you can sign up to meet with me during my office hours here. During the town hall I repeatedly mentioned following up with links and resources we discussed, and this email contains those links, attachments, and resources you can use. 

I was so excited to get to your questions that  I forgot to mention two great updates. We have (1) reopened our District Office and (2) hired a new District Director. Last week, I reopened our District Office, the same one I opened on my second day in office and had to close due to the pandemic. It’s located in the Ballard Service Center at 5604 22nd Ave NW. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to connect with folks in person again, while adhering to the latest public health protocols.  

I am also thrilled to announce our new District Director, Amy Enbysk, who is our point person for all D6 specific issues. You can reach out to Amy or me if you have questions about anything related to D6 and her email address is amy.enbysk@seattle.gov if you'd like to get in touch.  

At my town hall last Thursday, we were able to answer 68 of the 95 questions. For folks who didn’t have their question asked, I will follow up to meet with you directly during office hours. I’ll also upload the recording of the March 31st, 2022 Town Hall to our website’s Town Hall Archive – this site has all my past town halls for you to view as well.   

Since there is so much information below, I want to summarize the contents first. In this email you will find: 

• How to report a homeless encampment or other complaint to the city 

• Seattle & King County Affordable Housing Crisis: The McKinsey and Co report focused on the supply and demand gap for housing and its effect on homelessness 

• Is Homelessness A Housing Problem: Two Seattle-based writers explore why homelessness is so bad in Seattle  

• Public Safety: The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform analysis regarding the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) 911 response time 

• SPD: Crime Prevention Coordinators: The contact information for Crime Prevention Coordinators 

• The Major Comprehensive Plan update website and timeline information  

• Electric Vehicle Charging Information  

• Adopt-A-Street Litter Pickup Information and website  

• Green Lake inner loop public comment information  

• The City of Seattle organizational chart   

• How to schedule a meeting with me during my office hours, which are available to D6 residents 

Reporting a Homeless Encampment or Other Complaint to the City 

As part of the City’s work to better track the impacts of Seattle’s homelessness crisis and ensure an organized response, please feel free to fill out this form (scroll down to ‘Unauthorized encampments’ under the Popular Services section).  This helps ensure the City acknowledges, logs, and addresses this issue—deploying the right departments and teams for the specific issues you raise. This is different than the Find it, Fix it app and you will receive a confirmation and reference number once your request is submitted. Any additional details you can provide will be helpful to the city when responding to your request.  

Seattle & King County Affordable Housing Crisis  

In 2018, McKinsey and Company completed a study to better understand both the causes of homelessness in our region, and the resources needed for real solutions. At a systems level, we know the largest driver of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing in our very expensive region. The peer-reviewed study by McKinsey and Company demonstrates that the gap between housing supply and demand has priced thousands of working people out of the housing market.  

The Economics of Homelessness in Seattle and King County | McKinsey 

 Homelessness in Seattle and surrounds: Why does King County face a crisis? | McKinsey (Updated in 2020)  

Is Homelessness a Housing Problem?

A book written by a UW professor and a local data journalist suggest the answer is: not entirely, but maybe? For example, the authors point out that homelessness in Seattle is five times worse than in Chicago, a city with a cheaper and larger housing market. This demonstrates that homelessness will still exist regardless of our housing market, but that it is a much larger problem in Seattle’s expensive housing market. 

Is homelessness a housing problem? Two Seattle experts make their case in new book | The Seattle Times  

Public Safety  

The City of Seattle contracted for an independent analysis of SPD 911 calls and was conducted by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. This independent analysis determines that 46% of today’s 911 calls to the Seattle Police Department (SPD) could be handled by an alternative response in the very near future with the correct scaling up of our existing first responders. According to this report - as of today - 12% of 911 calls should not be handled by SPD. These calls include checking on someone’s welfare or responding when someone has fallen, which accounted for over 23,000 service hours between 2017 and 2019. Alternative responses to these types of calls would free up resources for calls that merit a badge and a gun, improving our police response times.  

When we have police officers responding to non-criminal calls, we are making response times to criminal calls longer. We need police time focused on crime and implementing the recommendations from this report will help us to do so.  

National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform: Seattle Calls for Service Analysis  

Major Comprehensive Plan Update  

The Office of Planning and Community Development is kicking off the next major update of the Seattle Comprehensive Plan, which shapes how Seattle will grow into the future. The major update, called the One Seattle Plan, happens every eight years and will conclude in 2024 with City Council approval. To learn more, including how you can engage in the process, visit the One Seattle Plan website. 

Electric Vehicle Charging on Street  

If you do not have a driveway or off-street parking spot but need to charge an electric vehicle, your charging cable can be laid over the sidewalk while in use, as long as you meet certain requirements, including that the cable be covered by a secure, stable low-angle cable ramp. SDOT has more information about the requirements here.  

Adopt-A-Street Litter Pickup  

Volunteer to pick up litter in your neighborhood through Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) Adopt a Street program, and SPU will provide trash pick-up, bags, and pickers to use. This is a great way to help keep Seattle clean. If you volunteer to clean at least one mile of street regularly for two-years, you can even get a sign recognizing your work. More information can be found on the Adopt a Street website.  

Green Lake Inner Loop Comment Information  

If you’d like to give feedback on the wheel restriction to Green Lake’s inner loop trail, you can email PKS_Info@seattle.gov to comment on this rule change. The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners is expected to hold a public hearing on this topic in June, as well as hear an update from the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). For a schedule of all public meetings for the Board of Park Commissioners, click here. If you’d like information on the status of the Green Lake outer loop project, you can find that here. 

City Organizational Chart  

As you can see from this chart, the Mayor has executive power and has control over all City departments. The Mayor can also make decisions unilaterally, without consulting other departments like the City Council. This is how the decision was made to keep West Green Lake Way North closed for so long, and I was not in agreement with Mayor Durkan about the longevity of this decision. Mayor Harrell has already demonstrated his commitment to collaboration, and it has made an enormous improvement in the effectiveness of our City government. 

Hearing From You

Every week I meet with D6 residents to hear about issues affecting you daily. I love talking directly to D6ers, it is often the best part of my week. If you would like to meet with me, please use this form to set up a time. I meet with residents during the day and evening too. I look forward to speaking with you soon!

Subscribe to My Newsletter

If this email was forwarded to you by a friend, I encourage you to sign-up for my newsletter! I send out a regular newsletter about the happenings in our district, updates from City Hall, and progress reports on the work we are doing to make life better for all of us in Seattle.

To stay up to date, sign up for my newsletter here!

Videos on My Website

• For all issues - email me at: Dan.Strauss@seattle.gov
• For district-related issues- Amy Enbysk: Amy.Enbysk@seattle.gov 
• For land use and transportation issues- Noah An: Noah.An@seattle.gov
• For homelessness and public safety issues - Kate Hoffman: Kate.Hoffman@seattle.gov