COVID-19 Data Updates
For up-to-date information on cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the County, see the Daily COVID-19 outbreak summary dashboard. The links to the data by demographics and geography are on the same page.
View all County COVID-related Data Dashboards here, including vaccination rates and outcomes according to vaccination status
View the most recent statewide COVID-19 data from the state Department of Health (DOH).
Helpful Public Health-related Articles
County business and other news and events
 This week at the Council
King County Council Meeting
This week, the King County Executive joined us and shared his annual State of the County address, giving a helpful and informative summary of the work we’ve accomplished and the issues that we are still facing. You can also view his speech here.
We also voted to confirm King County’s new Sheriff, Patti Cole-Tindall. During her time serving as Undersheriff and then Interim Sheriff, I have been impressed with her leadership and management skills, including how she leads with humility, collaboration, and thoughtfulness. I know that her unique professional experience and the trust she’s built with deputies will serve her well as she goes forward as our new Sheriff. Congratulations, Sheriff Cole-Tindall! You can read more about her appointment here.
Local Services and Land Use Committee
In Tuesday’s meeting of the Local Services and Land Use Committee, with a 5-0 vote, committee members passed a motion specifying the scope of work for the 2024 update to the King County Comprehensive Plan. The committee also discussed two ordinances relating to winery, brewery and distillery uses. Jim Chan, Director of the Department of Local Services’ Permitting Division, assisted in the briefing and responses to members’ questions. Following public testimony that was overwhelmingly opposed to the ordinances, the committee passed both pieces of legislation with a 4-1 vote (Councilmember Dunn opposed). The ordinances will be heard in the June 14th meeting of the full Council. You can watch the video of the meeting here.
Budget and Fiscal Management
In Wednesday’s meeting of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, members discussed and then passed out of committee with a 7-0 vote the Executive’s proposed 2023 sewer rates and capacity charges. Members then received a briefing and discussed placing a proposition to restore King County's conservation futures property tax levy on the November 8 general election ballot. When the video is posted, it will be available here.
Next week at the Council
King County Council
Since next Tuesday is the 5th Tuesday of the month, the King County Council will not be having its regular full council meeting. However, there will be other committee meetings throughout the week.
Committee of the Whole
At next week’s meeting of the Committee of the Whole, which I chair, we will kick things off by having a briefing on the County’s pandemic response and economic recovery featuring Budget Director Dwight Dively. It’s always worth tuning in for and informative. This will be followed by a briefing on the work of the King County Immigrant and Refugee Commission along with three new member appointments. We will conclude the action by deliberating and possibly acting on a new ordinance that would shift county-level elections from odd to even-numbered years. The ordinance would place the measure on the ballot for voter approval. I am cosponsoring the proposal. You can access the agenda and find information to participate or listen in by visiting this page.
Regional Water Quality Committee
Next Wednesday, the Regional Water Quality Committee will be meeting. The agenda is not published at the time of writing, but it will be accessible here.
 Unsplash: Steve Adams
Some exciting news: grants awarded to District Four Organizations
As the Council approved last Tuesday what may be the final COVID-specific budget, COVID 9, I participated in one of the more enjoyable aspects of my duties as a King County Councilmember. The County offers many different grant opportunities, and I was able to assist in getting quite a few grants allocated to organizations doing critical work in our community.
Several grant programs funded in the Veterans, Seniors & Human Services Levy are slated for organizations providing housing and homelessness services. From one such grant program, I secured funding for four different organizations engaging in important work—Aurora Commons, SHARE/WHEEL, Path With Art, and the Ballard Urban Rest Stop.
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Aurora Commons functions mostly as a day shelter offering clothing, hygiene, laundry, restrooms, to name a few, but it prefers to be known as a neighborhood living room providing love and human connection, believing that the most effective way to confront the disparities in its neighborhoods is by cultivating community and a corresponding network of care.
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SHARE/WHEEL (Seattle Housing and Resource Effort and Women's Housing, Equality and Enhancement League) are partnered organizations of homeless and formerly homeless men and women. Run by the homeless members themselves, they are one of King County's largest shelter networks, with 11 indoor shelters and two tent cities.
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Path With Art fosters the restoration of individuals, groups, and society from the effects of trauma through arts engagement and community-building. It serves low- to no-income adults in active recovery from domestic abuse, homelessness, substance use disorder, mental health challenges, and other traumas who are working to rebuild their lives. Its participants are referred by over 60 social service partners, including housing providers such as Plymouth Housing, the YWCA, and the Downtown Emergency Services Center as well as other social service, mental health agencies, and veteran organizations such as the Community Psychiatric Clinic, Recovery Café, and Veteran Rites.
- The Urban Rest Stop is a program of the Low Income Housing Institute, providing access to essential hygiene services, such as showers and laundry facilities as well as obtaining clean clothes, to improve the self-sufficiency of houseless individuals and families. Its extended service hours are specifically designed to assist those who are working or need to get to a job interview. The Urban Rest Stop serves a wide range of people: men, women, and families with children; youth, senior citizens, and people living on the streets or in shelters.
I also directed funding to two organizations assisting veterans within King County through another grant program in the Veterans, Seniors & Human Services Levy.
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Veteran Rites initiates veterans into true identity, purpose, and belonging after military service. Its programming has proven to drastically reduce the symptoms of PTSD, compassion fatigue, moral injury, and suicidal thoughts by embracing all aspects of human nature, identity, and experience.
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Outreach And Resource Services for Women Veterans (OARS) is dedicated solely to the betterment of all women who have served in the United States military. OARS provides re-adjustment services including resources, information, and outreach to assist women veterans in re-training, re-entering, and re-capturing a high quality of life.
Finally, I secured four more grants from a program for non-profit organizations operating within the County, and directed these to the Interbay P-Patch, the Ballard Historical Society, the Vera Project, and the Ballard Alliance.
- The Interbay P-Patch, established in 1974, is one of Seattle’s oldest, largest and most involved community gardens, and is recognized as an example of resourcefulness and sustainability.
- The Ballard Historical Society is dedicated to preserving and celebrating Ballard’s history by conducting research and working for the architectural preservation of Ballard homes and landmarks. Ballard was a separate city, complete with its own government, city hall and mayor, until its 1907 annexation to Seattle, and the Society’s photographic archives, with over 700 images, document this interesting history.
- The Vera Project is an all-ages nonprofit space dedicated to fostering personal and community transformation through collaborative, youth-driven engagement in music and art. A music venue, screen print shop, recording studio, art gallery, and safe space for radical self-expression, VERA is a home to Seattle’s creative community.
- The Ballard Alliance functions essentially like a chamber of commerce and ensures the community remains a unique, clean and vital district for its visitors, residents, businesses and property owners.
Future grant opportunities will arise, and I look forward to helping other groups in our community at that time. If you are aware of a non-profit that could use financial assistance, please contact my chief of staff, Adam Cooper, at adam.cooper@kingcounty.gov. He can work with you or the organization to identify which, if any, grants it may qualify for.
Additional helpful and informative links
Keep in touch
Thank you again for taking the time to read my updates, which I am now sending out once a week. Feel free to forward them to others who can subscribe by clicking here. And you can click here to visit the archive page where you can find all of my previous enews updates.
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