District 1 Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka shared a detailed list of what measures he and his office are working on following the Public Safety meeting he called on June 26.

See WestsideSeatttle's coverage of that meeting here. Here's his announcement via his newsletter to constituents.

"The Council has prioritized legislative actions to address public safety, as has been reported on in my newsletters (see newsletter dated June 21) and as I highlighted at the meeting: 

• Adopted the new contract for the Seattle Police Officers Guild that increased salaries to be competitive with other local jurisdictions.  We were recently informed that police recruitment is up to about 17 applicants per week from five per week since the contract was signed!  

• Adopted legislation aimed to streamline the Seattle Police Department (SPD) recruitment and strengthen the retention of officers.   

• Adopted legislation that would allow the Seattle Fire Department to address vacant buildings that pose serious fire hazards to the community. 

• Adopted legislation to expand the use of Automated License Plate Recognition for the entire SPD fleet aimed to aggressively address car thefts and other crimes. 

I serve as Vice-Chair of the Public Safety Committee and the Committee is currently considering legislation to tackle legal penalties for speed racing aligning with recently adopted State laws. I intend to offer amendments to further strengthen this important legislation. 

(For information on all Council legislative actions, you can visit this site which is updated weekly.) 

Below are some specific additional action items from our City that were discussed. I support prompt implementation of these by our Executive department partners and I am committed to partnering together to ensure they have the resources they need to effectively carry out these next steps: 

• Automated Speed Cameras:  This is the most consistently requested safety improvement that I’ve heard repeatedly from community. I have had multiple productive conversations on this issue directly with Mayor Harrell. We agree on the need for the City to quickly deploy new speed enforcement cameras in the area. Based on my own due diligence and direct conversations with the mayor so far, the Alki speed cameras currently are, and will be fully funded going forward!   

Even if lack of funding was a significant barrier (which it is NOT), there is a formal process for SDOT to specifically request funding from the Council for this narrow project as part of its broader 2024 annual adopted budget of $711 Million. (Also note: speed enforcement cameras in Alki were not included in the mayor’s originally proposed budget for 2024.)

I’d like to see a mayoral proposal in the transmitted budget for cameras (speed enforcement cameras and potentially CCTV) in Alki and other known problem areas that have strong community backing for the deployment of such camera technology. I believe there are enough of my Council colleagues who are equally fed up with problem racing in our city, who are inclined to be supportive and join me in approving such a request from SDOT.     

That said, I understand the Executive is currently working through some non-trivial implementation challenges, including operationalizing a few complex new administrative, planning, and study/research requirements imposed by recent changes to state law. I stand with the mayor in making sure this deployment is performed effectively, efficiently, and in a compliant manner.

Likewise, I support the Executive’s efforts to urgently resolve these challenges by navigating these requirements and working in good faith to ensure our City is able to promptly deploy these cameras on Alki, even if it means that they won’t be fully deployed in time for the busy summer season (which seems to be the case now, unfortunately). I will continue to STRONGLY advocate for SDOT to install these cameras. 

• Redesign of Duwamish Head Parking: I support SDOT redesigning or eliminating the diagonal parking (converting to existing parking to parallel parking or possibly eliminating this parking entirely); we must find ways to deter the bad activity occurring here. 

• Immediate Road Safety Improvements: Our partners at SDOT announced that additional speed cushions and new lane narrowing features at specific spots along Alki will begin this summer, many of which are expected to be completed before the end of the busy summer season.   

• SPD Parking Enforcement & Emphasis Patrols: Police Chief Rahr stated that Alki has been elevated to a higher priority for parking enforcement officers both for the Don Armeni boat launch (and I note there may be other areas for overnight parking violations); she noted that this an “aspiration goal” due to officer shortage and availability for overtime hours. Also, I STRONGLY support additional SPD emphasis patrols in the area. 

• I am thankful that our Parks Department eagerly took on a few impactful action items as well. Parks agreed to close gates to Don Armeni at night; work on closure of Hamilton View Park after 9 pm and at other possible ‘hot spot’ locations; research whether there can be restricted access options to Alki; and expansion of Park Rangers over time. 
   
• Early Parks Closure & Park Ranger Expansion: I am thankful that our Parks Department eagerly took on a few impactful action items as well. Parks agreed to close gates to Don Armeni at night; work on closure of Hamilton View Park after 9pm and at other possible ‘hot spot’ locations; research whether there can be restricted access options to Alki; and expansion of Park Rangers over time. 

Additionally, I was requested to provide the contacts for the three State legislators for State Legislative District 34, which includes West Seattle.  Their websites are in the links below which will contain information on their committees and how to contact them. "

• State Senator Joe Nguyen
• State Representative Joe Fitzgibbon
• State Representative Emily Alvarado