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This week, with Council President Gonzalez and Councilmember Mosqueda, we announced the “Seattle Rescue Plan” - a $130 million package of federal recovery funds to aid Seattle’s recovery from the pandemic and COVID-related economic impacts.
In these immensely challenging last sixteen months, Seattle has led the way in responding to the pandemic to keep our community safe, building one of the nation’s most robust vaccination programs, and creating new programs to address the impacts of COVID-19. In the months ahead, we will also lead a robust effort to reopen and build back more equitably than before.
Next week, the City Council will begin consideration of this plan to rebuild our economy and deliver critical resources to our residents and businesses. Working together, we are delivering an ambitious plan to kick start Seattle's recovery with direct aid to families and small businesses, support for Seattle Promise students, and major investments in shelter and housing.
The Seattle Rescue Plan focuses funding on supporting community and neighborhoods, small businesses, nonprofits, and the reopening of City services. Funding will be allocated to programs that prioritizes the recovery and reopening of all parts of the City. This includes investments directly into childcare, youth left behind in online learning, digital equity, employment and workforce training programs, the reopening of community centers and libraries, and more.
The largest investment - nearly $50 million - is to support the City’s homelessness response. Specifically, this plan will help 750 individuals experiencing homelessness including helping move 450 individuals into safer spaces and creating 300 new homes. This builds on our work to continually expand our 24/7 shelters and create 1,000 additional new homes for individuals experiencing homelessness that will come online this year and next year.
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Expand Rapid Rehousing services to transition 185 households to permanent housing through 2022
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Funds to build and acquire an additional 300 permanent affordable housing units in 2021 and 2022
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Expand Safe Lots to support RVs in 2021
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Flexible funding for an estimated 250 households to move off the streets or out of shelter in 2021
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Funds to support additional shelter and outreach in downtown Seattle
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Operating support for tiny home villages
This funding will provide support to communities across the City, and help to pull us out of this public health and economic crisis. Hope is on the horizon, and I know that together we can build back better.
On Monday, we remember those who have given their life for our country. Thank you, to all our veterans, service members, and military families. We all are especially grateful for those who have passed during their time in service. We deeply appreciate your service, sacrifice, and commitment to your country.
Still, most Seattle Parks and Recreation facilities remain closed due to the pandemic. The few that have opened at partial capacity will be closed on Monday, May 31, 2021 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday, with a few exceptions:
Closed for the Monday holiday:
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Childcare
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Amy Yee Tennis Center
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Medgar Evers and Rainier Beach pools
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Middle and high school academic support HUBs
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Hygiene Shower Program
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Parks
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Boat ramps
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Golf at Interbay, Jackson Park, Jefferson Park and West Seattle facilities
This week, Mayor Durkan attended the Regional Peace Keepers Training to discuss the issue of gun violence within our communities. She met with leaders at Zero Youth Detention to discuss priorities and partnerships when it comes to ending gun violence and supporting public safety.
Trailhead Direct is a pilot project co-led by King County Metro and King County Parks. This project seeks to ease vehicle congestion, reduce safety hazards and expand access to hiking destinations along I-90. For the 2021 season, we will be operating service to Mt Si and Issaquah. The Trailhead Direct Season will run weekends and holidays from June 5th 2021 – September 26th 2021
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Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced that now that more than 76 percent of Seattle’s residents 12 and older have begun the vaccination process, and more than 60 percent are fully vaccinated, the City of Seattle’s fixed vaccination sites at the Lumen Field Event Center, North Seattle College, Rainier Beach, and West Seattle will all end their operations in June. The Lumen Field Event Center, Rainier Beach, and West Seattle vaccination sites will continue to administer first and second doses until their final days of operation; and first and second doses will be administered at the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) Testing and Vaccination Site in SODO. SFD will also continue mobile and pop-up efforts in the coming weeks.
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Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced that the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) Community Testing Site in SODO will now offer COVID-19 vaccinations alongside testing. The SODO Testing and Vaccination Site is a drive-through site with the capacity to administer at least 700 vaccinations per day, in addition to offering COVID-19 testing. The site is operated by SFD, and vaccinations are available immediately. The site will continue to operate well into summer.
Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced that the City of Seattle and UW Medicine have partnered to create long-term COVID-19 testing availability at the City’s Rainier Beach and West Seattle Vaccination Hubs. UW Medicine has sited COVID-19 testing trailers at each hub, with appointments available immediately. These are self-swab tests where the patient conducts their own COVID-19 test under observation from a health care professional. Results are provided by UW Medicine within 24-48 hours.
A Mindful State is a people-powered and community-organized statewide campaign intended to help facilitate a feeling of community and a sense of duty and support for one another. The online platform provides a space to host human stories about coping with mental health, both from community members willing to share their lived experience and from mental health professionals who can provide context and expertise to help navigate paths to recovery.
For our communities and cultures to thrive, we must encourage people to look out for each other to foster, share, adapt and nurture our collective resilience. The goal is to ensure the people of Washington State have a robust ability to understand, adapt and recover from the behavioral health issues resulting from the pandemic. A Mindful State has aimed to create a robust effort that leverages different framing of the importance of mental health from different cultures.
At Stonehouse Cafe, a historic former filling station lives on as a destination patio // Image: Amber Fouts
This swath of the city is short on hype, but its restaurants offer a globe’s worth of dishes.
By Allecia Vermillion and Seattle Met Staff
The Adjacent neighborhoods in Seattle’s southeast corner distill so much history into one compact corridor—shoreline and industry, immigration, economic migration, and the defining forces of transit and developers. All of this yields a restaurant landscape that isn’t exactly dense (unless you count the fast food giants along the Rainier Avenue corridor). But it does offer a glorious variety, from Ethiopian coffee culture to stuffed Japanese pastries. Rainier Beach’s tiny old town strip even includes a pair of genuine destination restaurants facing each other across 57th Avenue South.
As always, please consult businesses directly for the latest on hours, in-person dining, and other Covid survival measures. But then go forth and enjoy an undersung collection of restaurants, some run by owners who are busy cranking out great sambusas or breakfast skillets and haven’t yet built proper websites.
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