SEATTLE — On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council voted to delay a vote on a proposal that would put requirements on money the Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) uses for its Equity Development Initiative. Under the proposed change, $25.3 million dollars could be withheld from OPCD if it doesn't meet certain requirements. Councilmembers heard hours of public testimony against the proposed change.
Councilmember Maritza Rivera sponsored the legislation. In the council meeting and interview with KING 5, she stressed her amendment to Council Bill 120774 does not remove funding from the 56 ongoing EDI projects. Rivera said she wants OPCD to explain why projects are taking so long to complete.
"Why are there 56 projects in the pipeline? How can we help the community get those projects completed?" Rivera said. "Are there things we can be doing as a city to make sure they can complete these projects?"
“As a Latina woman who grew up in a low-income, underserved neighborhood, I know all too well the impacts of displacement and the importance of investments in our BIPOC community that are being supported with this funding. We are not serving our community well if we do not ensure that programs can be properly implemented and completed. Funding alone does not ensure completion. OPCD needs to review its EDI program to determine why projects are taking so long to complete and if changes are necessary to better serve our community," Rivera said.
In a press release, Rivera laid out what OPCD would have to do to receive the $25.3 million in funds.
- A status report to the City Council on the existing projects funded through EDI, along with any lessons learned from the program evaluation currently underway.
- This report should identify, where knowable, potential funding requests for these projects and what the projected timeline is for completion.
- If not known, the report should describe activities completed to date for the projects and the next steps in the development process.
- The report should be submitted before or concurrently with the transmittal of legislation to lift the proviso; this should occur no later than September 24, when the Council anticipates the transmittal of the Executive’s proposed 2024 year-end supplemental budget ordinance
Pushback on this funding change came from the public and notably, Councilmember Tammy Morales. Morales sent the following press release ahead of Tuesday's council meeting.
Rivera accused Morales of mischaracterizing her proposal.
"I've moved to amend the agenda to remove item 2, Council Bill 120774 in order to give time to correct disinformation that was irresponsibly given to the community about my amendment," Councilmember Rivera said.
She noted EDI is not funded with general funds. The funds are restricted and can't be used to address the city's budget deficit.
Rivera also responded to claims that she purposely put out the amendment on a Friday afternoon before a long holiday weekend.
“I met with OPCD early last week. If OPCD had been responsive to my original requests for information in March, this late action would not have occurred," Rivera said.
Councilmember Morales, citing public comments and more than 3,000 emails the council received against the change, said she didn't understand why the proposal was being pushed to next week's council meeting.
"Frankly, if you want to propose legislation that rolls back commitments made to Black and brown communities, at least have the courage to stand by your legislation and vote on it or acknowledge that you made a mistake and withdraw it," Morales said. "The EDI program funds projects that are at various stages. We heard from people for three hours about why it takes so long. These are not practiced developers who are participating in this program. These are community-based organizations who want to create senior housing or want to create a cultural anchor for constituents in their community. They don't understand or have the expertise of traditional developers. That's why this takes so long."
Morales said the purpose of the EDI program was to support community-based organizations as they worked to finish projects for their communities.
"We don't ask the Office of Housing to put their money back in the general fund or back in the pot because their capital projects are taking a long time. We don't ask SDOT to put their money back in the pot because their capital projects are taking a long time. It is interesting to me that the programs that are meant to assist with reversing harm done to communities of color are more closely scrutinized than other programs in this city and are consistently at-risk of being defunded more than other programs in this city," Morales said.
Morales said giving funding to an organization for one year and putting requirements on future funding puts projects in jeopardy and their ability to get additional funding.
Other councilmembers addressed Rivera, the amendment and OPCD.
"Councilmember Rivera, I know your heart is in the right place, but I also know these have unintentional consequences. I don't think this is sending the right message for our Seattle values about building community. I do support reports and detailed information about the projects, but I'm a 'no' today, I'll be a 'no' next week, I'll be a 'no' the following Tuesday, and the following Tuesday for this amendment," Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth said.
"Councilmember Rivera and I spent over an hour with OPCD talking about EDI. They acknowledged that there were problems with the program, that it wasn't as efficient as it needs to be. It wasn't producing all of the outcomes that we would like to see. It was taking a very long time to get a lot of programs over the end line," Councilmember Cathy Moore said. "It was a good conversation because were able to begin to talk about, how can we bring improvements to make sure these projects are actually getting realized in a timely manner?"
"As someone who redeveloped a historical building, I know how tough it was and the amount of time it took to get all our ducks in a row. I would like that to be available to most of these organizations and see them successfully build. I think we need to have these conversations. We need to have that education and I think one week won't hurt," Councilmember Tanya Woo said.
Seattle City Council voted 6-3 to move the proposed amendment to next week's council meeting. How each member voted is below.
YES
Councilmember Robert Kettle, Councilmember Cathy Moore, Council President Sara Nelson, Councilmember Maritza Rivera, Councilmember Rob Saka, Councilmember Tanya Woo.
NO
Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth, Councilmember Tammy Morales, Councilmember Dan Strauss