Speaker 1: The bill passes and the chair will sign it. The report of the Select Committee on Transportation Funding. Please read item one.
Speaker 5: The Report of the Select Committee on Transportation Funding Agenda. Item one Council Bill 118402 relating to transportation providing for the submission to the qualified electors of the city at an election to be held on November 3rd, 2015, a proposition authorizing the city to levy regular property taxes for up to nine years in excess of the limitation on levies in Chapter 84.55 RTW for the purpose of providing city facilities and services, including transportation improvements, both capital and operating with possible debt financing. Creating a new oversight committee. And ratifying and confirming certain prior acts. The committee recommends the bill pass as amended.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilmember Rasmussen.
Speaker 6: Thank you very much. First of all, just an item of bookkeeping or formalities. I have a substitute version to offer and this would be the number for version number four. It combines several grammatical and legal corrections that have been recommended to be made by the law department, and that it also includes Councilmember Harrell's revision to Section eight , which is language concerning the racial equity toolkit analysis in the event that levee funds are used for streetcars. I also include clarifying that as to the suggested ballot title, we saw that the original version that had been submitted by the executive was unintentionally over the 75 maximum word limit. So therefore, I move to substitute version four for the version that we voted on last week in the committee meeting.
Speaker 3: Second.
Speaker 1: It's moved in. Second, and that we substitute version four for Council Bill 118402. Are there any questions or comments all in favor of the amendment vote? I oppose vote no. The amendment is unanimously adopted. We now have version four in front of us.
Speaker 6: Thank you. First of all, Councilmember, thank you for your participation in the five meetings that we had of our Select Committee on Transportation Funding. We've had strong and very involved participation from each of you as well as from the public. And that's understandable because the number one issue, according to polls that we've seen of this region, is transportation through this measure. And to others that have recently been approved by Seattle, voters were responding to public concerns about safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, to frustration about the condition of our roads and bridges and frustration with traffic congestion. Last year, Kane County voters rejected a ballot measure to increase metro service throughout the county. But in response, the city placed a similar measure on our fourth ballot, and that was approved by 62% of Seattle voters. We are now funding hundreds of thousands of hours of transit service in Seattle, including more weekend and late night service that especially benefits transit dependent students and working men and women. But we have to do more. And this is a third ballot measure in four years to improve our transportation system. Voters approved last fall, as I mentioned, the transit measure, and they also voted to approve in 2012 improving transportation safety by funding the replacement of our waterfront seawall . Now, we'll ask the voters again to approve a multipurpose levee to continue the work of the expiring Bridging the Gap transportation levy. If this is approved by the voters, $930 million would be invested over nine years to meet three fundamental needs. First, the largest amount at $420 million or 45% of the levy is for maintenance and repair of our bridges and streets. This will significantly help to pay for repaving major roads in every every area of our city from North 130th Street to south west Roxbury Street. $140 million will go for seismic upgrades to 16 of our most vulnerable bridges and to replace the Fairview Avenue Bridge and eliminate the backlog of spot repairs. Planning and design funding is included for replacement of the Ballard and Magnolia Bridges, which one of the speakers spoke to during our public comment person? While those bridges are safe, they do not meet current standards, and each of those bridges is roughly estimated to cost between three and $450 million. Other funding sources will have to be found for those bridges. Secondly, the largest amount of funding after maintenance repair is to go to congestion relief in order for our expanded bus service to be more reliable and to gain ridership. We have to make our transportation system work more efficiently. For that reason, major investments will be made to improve the operation of transit along seven major transit corridors and identify. In our transit masterplan. Routes for transit throughout the city will be improved, including Ridgeway, Rainier Avenue, South and Jackson Street. Pardon me. Just changing pages. Market and 45th Roosevelt, Northgate, Madison and 23rd Avenue investments are planned to improve pedestrian access to the new light rail stations included in the north gate, bike and pedestrian bridge, the accessible Mount Baker Station Plan and the new Graham Street Station. Freight investments are essential and funding is included to rebuild East Marginal Bay and to match funding from the state for the line to street overpass and for spot improvements in manufacturing and industrial areas and for general traffic. Funding is included for a new traffic signal timing equipment and for intelligent transportation systems and more traffic signs and markings. And then the third major funding area in this package is for a safe route for all. The amount proposed for this category is $207 million or 22% of the levy. This category includes several schools, with the levy funding a project for every public school that is 90 schools and it prioritizes low income. Elementary schools across the city will increase funding to implement Vision Zero, and this includes 2215 corridors such as Rainier Avenue, 35th Avenue, Southwest and Lake City Way. Each of those are included in this to improve safety. There will be funding for 150 new blocks of sidewalks and repair of 225 blocks of sidewalks, 50 miles of new protected bike lanes and 60 miles of neighborhood greenways. And one half of our bicycle master plan will be able to be funded out of this levy. And with this funding, we'll see more productive, protected bike lanes downtown in the University District and our neighborhood greenways. Will ensure accountability and transparency in how the levy dollars are spent. We did that with an expiring bridging the gap measure and this will be done again. There will be a citizen's oversight committee and the Council will add requirements and has added requirements for implementing minimum spending levels in each category. And we're ensuring general fund contributions to our Department of Transportation are not reduced of the Mayor and the Council are committed to equity and the distribution of the funds of this levy. And the Department of Transportation presented to us an equity toolkit analysis for the levy. We saw that investments will be spread citywide and we will be investing substantially in areas and neighborhoods that have been overlooked in the past for transportation improvements. For example, a major safety project is planned for Rainier Avenue, and North Seattle will see many more sidewalks built and Delbridge will have significant investments in a transit corridor. And $10 million will be invested in South Park for drainage, repaving and sidewalk projects. While this levy is between 11 and $12 a month more for the average household than the current bridging the gap measure, I think it's important to note that we have a $1.8 billion maintenance backlog and more people than ever are traveling to Seattle or living in Seattle. We not only have to repair what we have, but people want improvements made to how the system works. Now people are frustrated with congestion. They want more sidewalks, more reliable bus service, and safer routes to schools and safer for for bicyclists and better free mobility. We must continue the successful work that is being funded nowadays or today by bridging the gap. And we have to make these investments. This is the mayor and the city council's answer to the needs that we're hearing from the public. But this only meets part of the need. Council members, last week, all of you voted on this at our last meeting, and the recommendation of the select committee is to pass this measure.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Questions or comments? Councilmember Lakota.
Speaker 3: Thank you for that summary, Councilman Rasmussen. I do believe that has been a number of improvements in the legislation. You made some amendments in Council. President Burgess made some idea, and I know other council members did as well. The categories have been tightened up and reporting requirements also have been, well, I would say, identified with periodic reports back to the Council of Government. I had two concerns. I still have them. One is that the mechanism we're using, I don't believe, is the fairest distribution, the financial burden that could be distributed across our residents or those people who will be gaining the advantage of this of this legislation. The question is, who will who will pay? I think that many of the renters who unfortunately will probably be impacted, as is the costs are flow through to them. And we each live in our own sort of world of who we hear from. I run through a number of of my colleagues in city government who say that they don't know anyone opposed to it. I seem to have gotten the emails that they did with people who are not necessarily all that excited about it and oppose it. I know that I can afford it and I believe in it is what they what's in the what's in the package. It's without a doubt needed in the city. I just don't know how my neighbors are going to file on this issue. And part of the reason is the size, as was pointed out by Councilman Rasmussen, again, this is quite a bit larger than bridging the gap, which replaces I think it's about two thirds larger. Bridging the gap past that 53% was on the lower end of the scale of what levees generally pass in the city. So I think there's some risk here. I think some some significant risk that it may not pass. And if it doesn't, more than a quarter, perhaps as much as a third of our budget in transportation will be lost for at least a year, if not two years. But I voted it out of committee. I believe that let the people decide on the ballot. And I hope that whatever the decision is, I hope we can move forward with the improvements that we need to make in this city, particularly in the area of fighting congestion and making a road safer for those who drive who like bikes or pedestrians.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Councilmember Lucchino, we'll look forward to having you on the campaign trail with us. Councilmember Bagshaw, thank you.
Speaker 0: I want to, first of all, extend my appreciation to all who worked on it, all of you who have been here encouraging us and moving us forward. I know that this is a big package, and I frankly am someone who's going to support this from the top to the bottom because of the changes that we have made . And Councilmember Rasmussen, thank you for your leadership in reframing the kinds of investments we're going to make. First, we're going to be maintaining what we already have. And I think every taxpayer knows that that's got to be our first priority. And secondly, we're going to make sure that our investments reduce congestion wherever I go. People say to me, the worst problem that the city has is congestion. And unless we can reduce that and accommodate all the people that are coming, we're going to be in significant trouble. And I know that this package is going to be designed to do that. And thirdly, we're really promoting safety for all. I know that you have all heard that I am the poster child for Cascade bicycle clubs all ages and abilities and riding my bike again. And I ride all over the city. I want to have the protected bike lanes so I can get all over the city safely because right now I'm playing dodge a car and dodge a bus after the the lanes that we already have just end. So I am very much supporting this package, both as somebody who drives a car, occasionally rides a bus, rides my bike and walks. And I really appreciate all the work work that's gone into this. And thank you for bringing up Magnolia Bridge. That's something that I hear from neighbors in the north. And frequently we do know that the cost of replacing Magnolia Bridge is about half the size of this particular package. So it cannot be the resource that we use. But there are other resources. We do have money in here to do planning for Ballard Bridge and Magnolia, and I'm very pleased with that. But also, I want to encourage the state legislature, if they haven't already finished their work today, to make sure we have a transportation package that addresses the $15 billion that we need to have our light rail extended and to make sure that we've got resources so that we in the city and region can take care of what we have already got. And again, recognizing that freight needs to get around, that we need a network, we can't separate this from cars or busses or pedestrians or bikes. Our trucks we all need to get around. We've got 100,000 more people coming and a lot more employers. This is a region that's got to work. So I want to say thank you. I will be supporting this. And I also want to talk to you, the two women that stood up. I want to understand what your concerns are and how we can make sure that we listen to you and bring your concerns to the campaign. So please talk to me. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: So I'll just close by saying that I too appreciate the work of the state, especially in all of the detailed analysis and recommendations that the plan is very specific and I think context is very important and that is the typical Seattle homeowner will pay on average 11 or $12 more per month over what they're paying now for bridging the gap. If this measure passes, some will pay less and some will pay much more. Especially commercial property owners are going to pay a lot more than 11 or $12 a month. So I think the burden of paying for improvements in our transportation system is is equitably distributed. Councilmember Rasmussen, do you want to close our discussion.
Speaker 6: Simply to say thank you to all of my colleagues on the Council for working so hard on this measure? We've taken it very seriously. We know that we have a significant responsibility to maintain our our transportation network and to address the concerns that we're hearing from the public also about congestion reduction and to provide safe routes for all. So specifically in terms of who I would like to thank, in addition to my colleagues on the council, the advocates from the public, the community advocates said neighborhood greenway organizations, there are many of them from many neighborhoods, our bicycle advisory board, our pedestrian advocates, feet first and Transportation Choices Coalition and also members of the freight community , including our Freight Advisory Board. All of them have helped to inform this package long before it came to the City Council. We've only heard most recently from them, but there was a great deal of community outreach done by the Mayor's Office and the Department of Transportation for many months before this package was even brought to the City Council. Thank you again to the community advocates for your work to help shape this package then and then now the one that's before us today. Also, I have to thank the mayor and his staff for working with the community and working with the Department of Transportation to develop this package, in particular, Andrew Hastings of the mayor's office . And then, of course, we wouldn't have this package assembled, as it is with some specificity and so much details without the work of the Department of Transportation, particularly Sky Crew Blake and his staff, including Hannah Mackintosh, Chris Ruffini, Doris Costa, Charles Schwab. Our Budget Office crunched the numbers a number of times for many of us, including when we looked at alternative funding sources. And then Nobel, who we know and have a great deal of confidence in, was very helpful on that, including his staff, Kristy Parker, Saroja Reddy and David Harris, and finally our council staff that worked on our behalf to ensure that this package reflected all of our priorities and the priorities that we were hearing from the public, and that includes Dan Heder, Calvin Chao and Peter Lindsay, and then Anthony Auriemma of my staff, who really kept us moving forward at the council. And I very much appreciate his work as well. So thank you colleagues and staff and the public for all of your work. And now we will take this out to the public. We'll work with organizations like the League of Women Voters to ensure that all of their questions are answered. Thank you again.
Speaker 1: Thank you. The clerk will call the roll on passage of Council Bill 118402 version four got an.
Speaker 2: I.
Speaker 3: Harrill Right.
Speaker 2: Lakota Guy O'Brien Hi. Rasmussen I want.
Speaker 0: My.
Speaker 2: Back. I am President. Burgess My agent favored and opposed.
Speaker 1: The bill passes and the chair will sign it. The report of the Transportation Committee. Please read item two.
AN ORDINANCE relating to transportation; providing for the submission to the qualified electors of the City at an election to be held on November 3, 2015, a proposition authorizing the City to levy regular property taxes for up to nine years in excess of the limitation on levies in Chapter 84.55 RCW for the purpose of providing City facilities and services, including transportation improvements, both capital and operating, with possible debt financing; creating a new oversight committee; and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.