Earlier this evening at North Seattle College - I gave my final budget address. You can watch my short address here.
My two priorities in my final budget are continuing the fight against COVID19 and ensuring we recover stronger and better than before, and making unprecedented investments to address other crises that we faced before the pandemic including homelessness, housing, and climate change.
The past 19 months, has been hard for everyone. Our immediate, collective actions helped us fight COVID-19. Because of our actions, we have the lowest cases, hospitalizations, and mortality rates of any major American city. As we still face the COVID-19 crisis, we are going to keep at it with our plan to vaccinate our kids and provide boosters to eligible individuals.
Click the photo to watch Mayor Durkan deliver her fourth and final budget address.
As we build back better, we’re addressing the crises of our time by making record investments in housing, homelessness, and public safety including:
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125 new officers and ramping up alternatives to 911 response including the expansion of Community Service Officers, three HealthOne units to send medics and social workers to calls, and a new specialized response team to respond to thousands of 911 calls
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$200 million for affordable housing to address displacement and homelessness
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Expansion of emergency shelter units to more than 3,000 spaces as the City removes the most dangerous encampments and offers shelter
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$20 million in new programs for small businesses and workforce development
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Fully funding the Clean City initiative to remove graffiti and garbage from public spaces
My budget builds on the community-led investments we made in 2021 to continue to address longstanding inequities and disparities impacting communities of color.
We still face some big challenges. But we have shown that we can do big things if we work together. We’ll come back stronger, better and more just.
Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) approval of booster doses of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccinations for select populations, King County and the City of Seattle are ramping-up vaccination services to ensure free booster doses are available to everyone eligible, as well as continuing to serve those who are not yet fully vaccinated.
King County’s vaccination clinics began providing booster doses to those eligible on Saturday, September 25. To help meet anticipated demand, King County, in conjunction with its vaccination partners, have already reopened or have expanded capacity at seventeen vaccination sites across King County. In addition, the City of Seattle will be opening three additional vaccination sites beginning in October to provide booster doses, as well as prime series vaccinations to those who are not yet fully vaccinated.
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