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For the past several months, our region has been facing several crises unlike anything we have ever seen before. As our City works to respond to continued calls to reimagine policing and community safety and invest in true community health and opportunity, we must remember that we are still in the middle of an unprecedented global public health crisis.
This past week, building on our Citywide testing launch in June, Seattle Fire Chief Scoggins and I announced the launch of a fourth Citywide testing site ? a walk-up location at Chief Sealth High School Athletic Complex. I know the West Seattle Bridge closure has presented a significant challenge for residents on the peninsula. This new location is key to advancing testing equity for the community and City.?
Building off of the new Rainier Beach walk-up testing site, the City expects to administer approximately 4,000 tests daily and more than 75,000 tests monthly across all four sites, which will be critical headed into the Fall.
In addition to physical distancing, face coverings, and good hygiene, easy and accessible testing is a critical to saving lives. Our existing testing sites are testing thousands of individuals each day, and have tested more than 150,000 people since opening in June. In just under two weeks, the Rainier Beach walk-up site has conducted nearly 6,000 tests in one of Seattle?s most diverse communities. The City of Seattle testing sites account for more than 15 percent of all tests performed statewide since June.
Under the leadership of Chief Scoggins, we have pioneered innovative testing programs that have been replicated across the state and country. In the initial days of the crisis, we created a site to test first responders exposed to COVID-19 and deployed our firefighters to test seniors and workers at Long Term Care Facilities, where the virus had spread rapidly due to the lack of testing.
While I know there was sufficient confusion regarding this week?s guidance from the CDC and the White House Task Force on Coronarvirus, individuals should continue to follow the guidance in Washington State and Public Health ? Seattle & King County to be tested if you have been exposed to COVID-19.
Testing at these City of Seattle sites is free, so if are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or have been exposed to a family member or individual with COVID-19, please visit http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/covid-19/covid-19-testing to get tested.
I know these times are incredibly tough for individuals, families, and small businesses in Seattle. As we move forward, I will continue to do everything possible to get the region the resources we need to get through this pandemic.
As always, please continue to write me at [email protected], reach out via Twitter and Facebook, and stay up-to-date on the work we?re doing for the people of Seattle on my blog.?
Stay Safe and Healthy,
 
With the most recent CARES act funding, the City of Seattle has surpassed over $19 million in federal aid to support programs that help address food insecurity for residents who continue to be impacted by COVID-19. Last week,?Mayor?Durkan and City Council agreed on programming?for an additional $13 million in food assistance.
Mayor Durkan has directed an additional $9 million towards grocery vouchers, $670,000 towards the Community Food Fund, and over $2 million towards Seattle?s food banks. So far this year, the City has spent $11.6 million towards its innovative grocery voucher program launched in March.
The City?s Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects announced today that the removal of Pier 58, known as Waterfront Park, will begin within 1-2 weeks in response to recent movement and continued deterioration of the structure. Pier 58 removal is expected to be completed by early 2021.
The City has hired Orion Marine Contractors, Inc for $4.3 million to perform the emergency work; emergency work is exempt from competitive bidding under the State law (RCW 39.04.280). Orion Marine Contractors, Inc is a maritime contractor with a workforce based in their Tacoma, WA regional office. They are currently working on SDOT?s Fairview Ave N Bridge Replacement and with Port of Seattle on the Terminal 5 Modernization Project
The City has planned for years to remove the existing Pier 58 and replace it with a?new public park pier?including a playground, public plaza and landscaping. Replacing Pier 58 has been part of the City?s Waterfront Program since 2013. The Pier 58 project is fully funded, and construction was planned to begin in 2022. A portion of those funds will be used for pier removal.
Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced that the City?s Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) will invest $1 million toward youth mentorship and educator diversity programs developed by ACE Academy. Earlier this summer, Mayor Durkan announced a $5 million commitment of resources from the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise levy and the previous Families and Education levy.
Using $1 million in funding from DEEL, ACE Academy developed the Family, Academics, Motivation, and Environment (F.A.M.E.) programs. F.A.M.E. has four components to engage over 300 Black students, educators, community volunteers, and parents.
This week, The Seattle Public Library announced that it will be operating seven locations for curbside pickup of books and materials by appointment. The locations are open for?Curbside Service?from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and include:
- Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle, 98104
- Broadview Branch,?12755 Greenwood Ave. N., Seattle, 98133
- High Point Branch,?3411 S.W. Raymond St., Seattle, 98126
- Lake City Branch,?12501 28th Ave. N.E., Seattle, 98125
- Ballard Branch,?5614 22nd Ave. N.W., Seattle, 98107
- Douglass-Truth Branch,?2300 E. Yesler Way, Seattle, 98122
- Rainier Beach Branch,?9125 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle, 98118
Patrons with existing holds are receiving emails about the process for picking up holds, including how to schedule an appointment for pickup. Patrons who requested items for pickup at a branch not offering curbside service have been notified of a default pickup location at this time.
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 For this week?s weekend read, we encourage you to read Crosscut journalist David Kroman?s deep examination of the challenges facing the calls to defund SPD and the complexities of responding to the kind of 911 calls that police are often tasked with solving ? including calls related to mental health and addiction crises.
?The police officer and the nurse each saw the same man in downtown Seattle, minutes apart. The man had no shirt, blood down his pants, a wound over his left eye, and he paced the sidewalk a block from City Hall.
Emily Katz crossed the street from the Downtown Emergency Service Center off Third Avenue, where, as nurse manager, she and a sparse team shoulder the unending task of caring for a homeless population few others bother to care for.
Police Officer Sandlin Grayson saw the wounded man from his patrol car. No Seattle police officer in at least the past five years has taken more calls for people in crisis ? those struggling with mental illness, thoughts of suicide or substance use ? than Grayson, according to department data.
This was the second time on that late-July Thursday the nurse and officer had met; a man had overdosed in the alley behind the shelter across the street hours earlier. And each time they cross paths like this ? when there was no obvious crime, just a person struggling deeply ? a question lingered in the air: Who needs to be here, really??
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