- The Biennial Budget establishes our Council’s operating costs and fiscal spending priorities for the next two years starting in January 2023 through all of 2024. This important document sets policy for county government and oversees the delivery of services you need and expect. The Executive will transmit his proposed $12 billion budget to the Council at the end of this month, and the Council will deliberate over, amend, and eventually adopt the budget before the end of this year. You can track the timeline for the budget process here. As always, your voice is integral for setting our budget priorities. To learn more about the biennial budget and where your tax money goes, check out this explainer video from KCTV.
- The 2024 Comprehensive Plan Update guides the County’s long-range vision for the next 10 years in the areas of growth and protecting natural resources. The 2024 update has three focus areas: Climate Change & Environment, Housing, and Access & Equity.
- The Subarea Plans guide long-range development for specific communities that will eventually become part of the 2024 Comprehensive Plan. Our district has one subarea plan in development, which is for our unincorporated area: Skyway. You can review the Executive’s proposed subarea plan for Skyway here. It will guide land use, zoning, and the way critical services will flow into this neighborhood.
Huge news: 75 people previously living unsheltered at Dearborn and 10th Ave (I-5) in Seattle's Chinatown International District have been transferred to shelter, lodging, inpatient treatment, and housing resources, thanks to an intensive 6-week collaborative effort. Read more on the King County Regional Homeless Authority (KCRHA) blog.
- One woman, age 51 and income-insecure, received medical care and was placed in JustCARE lodging.
- A man in his early 20's coping with substance use disorder is connected with inpatient treatment and even helped others from the site organize their belongings for storage.
- A 40-year-old mother coping with substance use disorder and the sole caregiver for a wheelchair-bound son is in JustCARE lodging and working on both housing and recovery.
- KCRHA worked with the language line to establish a connection with a 57-year-old Cantonese-speaking man, who requested treatment and reunification with his family.
These are just a few of the people helped by this collaborative partnership.
The resolution is part of Gov. Jay Inslee's Right of Way Safety Initiative, with funding provided by the state legislature, and implementation through a collaboration between the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, the state Department of Commerce, the Washington State Patrol, the Washington State Department of Transportation, the City of Seattle, and outreach providers PDA (JustCARE) and REACH.
This is the 3rd encampment that KCRHA and partners have resolved under the state Right of Way Safety Initiative, with more to come.
Supporting Food Banks to Promote Food Security
On September 6th, the motion I co-sponsored in support of local food banks passed unanimously in the King County Council’s Law, Justice, Health, and Human Services Committee. This motion would task the county with identifying resources to help local food banks that are struggling from the impacts of rising inflation, labor shortages, and historic interest rate spikes. We must do everything we can to support our struggling communities with food security. For more information, please visit this article here.
 Zero Youth Fare
As of September 1st, all King County youth ages 18 and under can now ride buses, trains, ferries, and more fare free. Sign up your young people here so they can get their Free Youth Transit Pass.
Check out the photos from our event in Rainier Beach announcing this initiative that I was proud to co-sponsor.
 Thank you to everyone who made Zero Youth Fare possible: Washington State Senator Marko Liias, our state legislature, King County Executive Dow Constantine, youth and transit advocates, the Transportation Choices Coalition, King County Metro, Sound Transit, the King County Council, Councilmember Dan Upthegrove, Councilmember Claudia Balducci,Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, partners around the region, and much more!
Below are my remarks from the event.
 Skyway is Getting Some Sidewalks!
King County Road Services is improving safety for pedestrians and bicycles on Renton Avenue S between 68th Avenue S and S 112th Street. This project adds a new section of sidewalk along the west side of the road, and re-stripes the corridor to separate pedestrian and bicycle traffic from moving vehicles. Re-striping the corridor makes room for a wider bicycle lane on the west side of the road and a new shared eight-foot-wide pedestrian/bicycle pathway on the east side. For more information, click here.
 Crisis Care Centers: Like Urgent Care for Behavioral Health Issues
We need a better way to care for people who are experiencing severe substance use disorders or mental illness. Too many people are suffering and I know all of us know someone who needs help and support.
Last week, I joined a coalition of partners to announce the first steps of reshaping how we respond to behavioral health crises in King County.
The proposal we’ve been designing would create a new regional network of Crisis Care Centers, places that people can walk into and access same-day care, whether for substance use disorders or mental illness. It would also invest in and support a robust workforce to operate these facilities.
You can watch my full remarks from the press conference here. You can also find Executive Constantine’s press release making the announcement here.
Lastly, I should point out that we are not reinventing the wheel here. Other states like Arizona have advanced crisis care systems. I visited Arizona earlier this year to hear more about their system, which I wrote about here.
 The Inflation Reduction Act Will Cut Health Care Costs for Washingtonians
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will lower health care costs for millions of Americans and put money back in the pockets of American families and seniors. The Act will cap prescription drug costs for hundreds of thousands of Washington Medicare beneficiaries, reduce health insurance premiums for tens of thousands of Washingtonians by hundreds of dollars per year on average while expanding coverage to about 52,000 Washingtonians, and cap insulin co-payments for the tens of thousands of Washington Medicare beneficiaries that use insulin. For more information, please visit the White House website here.
TOWN HALL: South Seattle & Allentown
Join me on Thursday, September 29 for a virtual town hall I’m hosting focused on the neighborhoods of South Seattle and Allentown. We will be joined by members of King County agencies focused on public health, public safety, homelessness, transportation, and budget. You can tune into the town hall without RSVPing at Facebook.com/councilmember.girmay on Thursday, September 29 at 5:00 PM.
If you would like to join the zoom town hall as a panelist, you can RSVP here: https://forms.gle/5CWuJKdqVWjmCUxw5. This is only the first of a series of events. We will be holding additional town halls in the following weeks for Capitol Hill, Central District, Eastlake, University District, Laurelhurst, and Ravenna.
COVID-19 Updates
The “Omicron BA.2/BA.5 wave” in King County plateaued in late May, was sustained throughout most of the summer and has been decreasing since mid-July. Over the last month, COVID-19 activity has decreased among all age groups. We’re currently classified in CDC’s low COVID community level while our COVID transmission rate based on reported cases remains just above the 100/100K/7d cutoff separating high transmission from substantial.
 Although we are trending down, there are still likely a few thousand new cases in King County each day. Wastewater surveillance confirms this here.
Hospitalizations have gone down from our recent peak in mid-July. Yet, over the past 7 days through August 30th, 11 people were hospitalized per day, about 1 person every 2 hours. This level of hospitalizations is similar to what we see during the peak of a moderate severity influenza season.
For most of the summer COVID deaths have remained relatively stable at 2-4 per day, but over the past 14 days, deaths have trended down to 2 average daily deaths. To put this number of deaths in perspective, if recent levels are sustained (2/day), COVID-19 would be the 5th leading cause of death annually in King County, more than unintentional injuries, stroke, diabetes, or influenza and pneumonia deaths.
82% of hospitalizations in the past 30 days were among people over 50 years old. 91% of deaths are among those 60 and older; 5% among people under 20 years old. To see more about these statistics, please visit the King County CoV-19 dashboard here.
Get Boosted
Despite this risk, only 31% of 50-64 year-olds and 57% of adults 65+ are up to date with the COVID vaccine and booster recommendations. We need to do better getting our high-risk adults vaccinated and boosted. If you know someone 50+ or with underlying health risk factors who is eligible and not yet boosted, remind them that it can keep them out of the hospital or save their life. For more information, please visit this article here.
The single most important step we can take to protect ourselves and our community is to get vaccinated if you are not vaccinated and get an updated booster if you are eligible. Boosters decrease severe CoV-19 and death.
Yesterday, the Seattle Times published my op-ed about crime and public safety. Now more than ever, public safety requires collaboration, creativity and root-cause analysis. In the article, I lay out the compounding crises our region is facing and what I see as effective ways to solve these problems. I also criticise what I believe are unhelpful dynamics. Check out the op-ed if you have some time!
Teacher Strike
As you may know, Seattle Public Schools teachers were on strike at the beginning of the school year. Last week, I visited one of their strikes and was fortunate enough to run into my 7th grade teacher from Mercer Middle School, and my 9th and 10th grade teachers from Franklin High School – see a couple of them below! Thank you to Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Jeffreys, Mr. Damon, and all the wonderful teachers in my life who made all the difference.
 Black Suffrage Network
I attended the newly formed Black Suffrage Network’s (BSN) listening session. BSN is committed to addressing disparities in Black, Immigrant, low-income and other marginalized communities through civic engagement.
 Pacific Northwest Black Pride Day
Great to join Washington State, City of Seattle, and King County to proclaim August 21 as Pacific Northwest Black Pride Day! Here’s to creating a region where all of our LGBTQIA+ family are healthy, safe, and thriving.
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