Seattle Forward

Final Decisions on 2016 Budget

The Full Council voted to adopt the City’s 2016 budget today, incorporating changes Councilmembers have made from the Mayor’s proposal over the last two months.

The Mayor’s proposed budget provided us with a good start, including funding for a hospital-based gun violence intervention program at Harborview Medical Center.

I’m happy to report that all of the items I pushed for were adopted into the Council’s final package. These included funding to study an educational center for immigrants and refugees with foreign professional degrees, increasing dedicated funding for arts programs, support for small manufacturers, advancing a study to incentivize shared parking facilities in private buildings, expanding funds for the reentry and job assistance program Career Bridge, and language to direct City staff to work with Seattle Public Schools on student population growth planning.

I also have been working closely with community leaders and Councilmember Harrell to provide City support for a new “Opportunity Center” in southeast Seattle. This budget will provide nearly $2 million in seed funding for this project, which is expected to include job training, affordable housing, meeting space, or other amenities a community-led process will help determine.

Round 1 Budget Proposals

Budget deliberations have kicked into high gear here at City Hall. The first deadline for proposals to secure a baseline support of three councilmembers comes this Wednesday. After a couple more rounds of discussion over the next three weeks, the proposals that receive majority support will be put together in a balanced budget package.

Earlier I wrote about what I liked in the Mayor’s budget. Here are some additional proposals I’m excited to advance for further consideration by the Council:

Transportation Progress

Two separate efforts by the Seattle Department of Transportation that have received attention recently should be celebrated.

First, the Council received an update earlier this month about the School Zone Traffic Safety Cameras. Nine Seattle schools currently have these cameras in place and six more schools will receive them this year. In 2013, I sponsored legislation dedicating money from school zone speed violators to safety improvements around schools. At that time, the City had a long list of physical improvements awaiting funding that could make our children safer on their way to and from school like signals, crosswalks and speed humps. This program has been able to fund 30 projects so far, with many more in the pipeline.

Not only that, but enforcement has reduced speeding dramatically. Citations decreased 34% from 2013 to 2014 for the four school zones where cameras were installed late in 2012. SDOT reports that “this equates to around 10,000 fewer speeding cars per year across all four school zones.”

Second, news articles this week reported that the first “smart” parking pay stations are being installed in Pioneer Square.

Follow the Data, Lower Parking Rates

When the City Council approved a new parking meter rate policy in 2010 we stressed the importance of a rational, outcome-based policy that could be applied consistently and fairly in every neighborhood business district.

Last fall the Council was told by the Mayor’s budget office and transportation managers there would be no further changes to parking rates in 2013 to allow the public to get used to the changes applied in 2012, but the Mayor recently announced lowered rates in one neighborhood. If we’re going to make changes at all this year, we should adhere to the data and lower parking meter rates in up to 13 paid parking areas in neighborhood business districts.

San Diego Padres and the Northgate Parking Garage

I made a quick trip to San Diego on June 4 to see how they had successfully wrapped a residential neighborhood, the city's historic Gaslamp district, the nearby convention center and a working port and rail yard around Petco Park, the home of the Padres. It was impressive, to say the least.

I also saw something I hadn't expected that could help Sound Transit and Seattle smartly prepare for integrated mobility at the Northgate Link Light Rail Station. 

Demand-Based Parking Showing Promise

A few cities around the U.S., including Seattle and San Francisco, are trying new on-street parking management techniques to reduce cruising for open parking spaces and ensure one or two available spaces on each block. Today's New York Times has an article about how San Francisco's experiment is going. Just like here in Seattle where Councilmember Mike O'Brien and I led the effort to switch to demand-based parking management, San Francisco's effort shows promise.

Read my earlier posts on better on-street parking management strategies here.

New Street Parking Policies: Are They Working?

In the fall of 2010, the City Council adopted new on-street parking management policies.

These new policies were designed to (1) keep one or two spaces available on each block in our neighborhood business districts, (2) reduce congestion and environmental harm from cruising for an open space, (3) and shift from a revenue-based orientation to an outcome-based orientation. (I wrote extensively about these new policies when they were being developed.)

Now, there are new concerns that the parking policy changes made in 2010 are adversely impacting businesses, essentially driving customers away. There are specific concerns about the decision to extend pay periods from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in certain neighborhoods. (As a clarification, the Mayor sets the times of day for paid parking; the City Council determines the days of the week.) However, collected occupancy data shows the new policies are working as they were intended.

In the Chinatown-International District, a study of occupancy this past fall by SDOT showed that

"Data collected in September 2011 showed that the new evening parking hours in Chinatown/International District are achieving the intended results.  The City Council approved policy calls for parking spaces to be occupied between 65% and 83% of the time. Parking occupancy at 7:00 PM was measured at 78%, right in the target range of one to two open spaces. Data from our pay stations also shows transactions per day have been consistent in Chinatown/International District since September.  This preliminary data is consistent with data we’ve seen in the other neighborhoods where parking was extended to 8 PM in 2011."

SDOT will soon complete another citywide assessment of parking occupancy and further divide neighborhood parking areas into smaller zones which will allow even more precision in setting meter rates and hours to achieve the desired outcomes. Later this year, we'll all be able to pay on-street parking meter fees by cell phone.

Nine Parking Scofflaw Boots Applied on First Day

Today was the first day of the City's new parking scofflaw enforcement program.  Vehicles with four or more outstanding parking tickets are subject to "booting," meaning the vehicle is immobilized until the owner pays all outstanding parking fines.  Here's what happened today.

Parking Enforcement Officers booted a total of 9 vehicles today.  The first boot was applied at 2:13 p.m. and the last was applied at 3:49 p.m.  At the lowest end of the range of vehicles booted today, $467 is owed on 4 outstanding tickets.  At the highest end of the range of vehicles booted today, $3,308 is owed on 34 outstanding tickets.

As of 4 p.m. today, one booted motorist had paid the amount owed and self-released the boot. Seventeen minutes elapsed from the time that the boot was applied until the boot was released.

• That vehicle was booted at 3:34 p.m.
• The motorist called the boot vendor at 3:44 p.m. 
• The amount owed, $475 (including the $145 boot fee) was paid at 3:50 p.m. 
• The vehicle was released from the boot at 3:51 p.m.

Save Money! Pay Traffic & Parking Tickets Now and Save

The City's Municipal Court judges have opened a special "save money" window of time that allows you to lower costs on outstanding traffic and parking infractions.  But, the window slams shut at the end of June.  Here's a link to frequently asked questions about the program.

These reduced cost program expires June 30, one day before the City's new Boot-the-Car enforcement effort begins.  So, get those unpaid traffic and parking tickets paid off or else your vehicle may be subject to booting, a device that attaches to your tire and makes moving your car impossible.  Don't get the boot!  Pay off your traffic and parking tickets today.