They ran the thing, so I think we're good.

I think we're good.

Good.

They ran their confirmed.

Good.

Is Seattle Channel ready?

Hello.

Okay.

Good.

All right.

Good morning.

The April 16th, 2026 meeting of the Safety Transportation Engineering Project Sports and Experiences Committee will come to order.

It is 9:38 a.m.

I am Rob Saka, Chair of the Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Foster.

Here.

Councilmember Kettle.

Councilmember Lynn.

Vice Chair Rank.

Present.

Chair Saka.

Here.

Chair, there are three members present.

Thank you.

Let the record reflect that Councilmember Lynn has been excused, and I note that it must be a Seattle Public Schools spring break week with a slim quorum here.

So all good.

Well, if there's no objection, colleagues, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing and seeing no objection, the agenda is hereby adopted.

And good morning, members of the public, colleagues.

Thank you for joining us at today's meeting.

Today is actually a really important day in the history of transportation on April 16th, 1867.

Wilbur Wright was born in Millville, Indiana.

Wilbur was an American aviation pioneer who, alongside his brother Orville, invented the very first successful airplane.

So happy 159th birthday, Wilbur.

Uh we don't generally when we talk about transportation policy, uh aviation in aerospace is is something that is generally within the domain of the federal government in terms of regulation.

Um maybe exclusively, but it is still an important mode.

It's still an important mode that supports uh our travel.

It's it's an important mode that supports our local economy with Boeing and Blue Origin and the like.

So this is from a fellow Air Force veteran.

All right.

Now on a much more serious matter, on Sunday evening, a few days ago, two drivers were tragically killed in a wrong way head-on collision on State Route 509 between South Cloverdale Street and South 112th Street.

The victims have been identified in the media as Jadon Parnell, age 21, and Kevin J.

Ward, age 71.

The incident occurred on a state highway within the limits of the City of Seattle.

And although it occurred on a washed dot asset, State Route 509, and therefore doesn't count against our vision zero data.

Washdot owns that.

Now our city has made historic investments in traffic safety through the recent voter-approved levy.

And as chair of our former transportation committee at the time that oversaw that process, I'm proud that this council was able to provide a record 160.5 million dollars in dedicated funding for Vision Zero alone over the course of the eight-year levy.

And when we look more broadly at related safety investments in the levy, such as the 193 million dollars for pedestrian safety, 133.3 or 0.5 million dollars for bicycle safety, and 403 million dollars for road safety and monetization.

The total impact is much larger.

In fact, a conservative estimate actually puts the combined traffic safety investment at approximately $890 million over the eight-year life cycle of the levy.

That means nearly one billion dollars over eight years is being directed towards making our streets safer and saving lives.

Put another way, close to half of the 1.55 billion dollar levy is focused on traffic safety outcomes.

And this more slightly more accurate $890 million figure doesn't even factor in the other categories of investments in the levy that could potentially impact safety on our roads, whether directly or indirectly.

Indeed, the $890 million level of investment would specifically exclude bold transformative investments we've made in the levy to do things like making our bridges safer and more secure, connecting people safely to transit, addressing safety issues, and in our traffic signals and operations network, investing in cargo freight mobility by making vital industrial zone safety upgrades and installing more critical safety lighting for pedestrians, our most vulnerable users, which by the way benefits all modes and all users by improving visibility for everyone in the affected area.

No doubt there's a strong safety nexus in these investments as well.

Shouldn't some of these be counted as Vision Zero and road safety investments as well, at least in part.

Regardless of how you choose to count the beans or slice the data, these numbers reflect a clear and unified policy choice by our city.

Seattle is prioritizing safety at scale and making one of the most significant long-term investments in safer streets in our city's history.

Vision Zero is about saving lives.

And while we are seeing some real progress, the tragic reality remains that too many people are still dying and suffering serious injuries on our streets.

This audit will help us take a hard look at what's working, what's not, and where we need to sharpen our approach to prevent further tragedies on our roads.

Now I want to commend the Seattle Department of Transportation for their extensive work in addressing Vision Zero to date.

Again, we're seeing some real progress.

An outside or external audit is generally considered more reliable and credible than an internal only review because it provides true independence, ensures an unbiased assessment of data accuracy, regulatory compliance, and risk.

By comparison, internal only audits often focus primarily on operational improvements and are managed by internal department staff, all of which can contribute to the perception or misperception that the internal review process is not truly objective.

Now, our city auditor's office has as its core mission to conduct independent, in-depth analysis and develop recommendations to improve city programs and services.

We know performance audits are an important accountability tool.

They evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of city programs to determine if they are achieving their intended objectives and if they could possibly be doing better.

Launched in 2015, the Vision Zero program has an ambitious goal to end traffic deaths and serious injuries on our city streets by the year 2030.

This program, at the end of the day, is all about saving lives.

And so I'm calling for this audit to make sure we are saving as many lives as possible.

It's not about that.

I actually I believe this department is doing their level best.

And I know they're making every effort to successfully implement Vision Zero.

That said, we also know that outside audits do offer additional benefits like increased perceptions of unbiased objectivity, enhance credibility with stakeholders, especially members of the public, and strengthen verification and fidelity of data.

That's why outside audit is intended to supplement, not replace SDOT's existing efforts and work in full harmony together.

The audit is expected to commence in the fall.

It's already in the city auditor's queue.

The findings and specific recommendations that will flow from this audit will be presented at a future steps committee meeting.

Because of this audit, I am confident that we will be able to strengthen shared accountability, improve transparency, and drive clarity.

This audit will better position our city to actually achieve our ambitious vision zero goals and save lives.

So stay tuned.

All right, that said, we have a very robust agenda this morning, which includes a street renaming resolution, a traffic safety briefing, and a department overview presentation.

As a quick minor housekeeping note, we would ordinarily have put the safety briefing first to be more consistent with our safety first mantra in our steps committee, but to align schedules for today's important agenda items.

We've landed on the following order.

First, it is my distinct honor to hear a proposed resolution sponsored by Council President Joy Hollingsworth that would rename a portion of South Jackson Street after Dr.

R.

L.

Manaway Sr.

What a an impressive community member.

For our second agenda item, our partners from SDOT will be providing our quarterly traffic safety briefing update.

The presentation will receive that we will receive will include a review of 2025 traffic safety data and an overview of the 2026 Vision Zero projects.

So I'm excited to have the opportunity to hear from them today.

And I anticipate this to be the first of many presentations we will have from our partners at the waterfront in the months and years to come.

Thank you.

All right.

We will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda and within the purview of this committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

Chair, we currently have four in-person speakers and two remote speakers.

All right.

Thank you.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

We will start with the in- speak in-person speakers first.

Clerk, can you please read the public comment instructions?

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.

Speakers will alternate between sets of in-person and remote speakers until the public comment period has ended.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Public comment period is now open.

We'll begin with the first speaker on the list, Denise Gaffney.

First of all, I am Denise.

Is this on?

Or do I just talk?

Hang tight, just a moment, ma'am.

Just a moment.

Uh anyway, uh I'm Denise Gaffney.

I um I'm here about the uh Pike Street uh Hill Climb and Western Avenue.

Um I've lived in the area for 36 years, and um and always on in the same same on the hill climb.

Um, but I will I I don't want to waste my two minutes, so I'm going to give you my uh presentation.

I represent concerned uh residents of Hill Climb Court, 1425 Western Avenue have for some time experienced safety and security issues with regard to the Pike Street Hill Climb, the stairs that connect Alaska Way to Western Avenue at the Pike Street right of way.

The stairs provide the most direct uh access between the Pike Place Market Elevator and the aquarium in Waterfront Park.

A lack of security patrolling the area has led to general deterioration, and we are witnessing drug tra transactions at our north exit gate, camping and vandalism.

Our building has been broken into many times.

Cruise ship tourists and visitors voice their dismay regarding the unsanitary conditions while they are getting their first introduction to the city, and as they walk to the market.

With the world soon to descend on Seattle with the coming FIFA games, it becomes even more urgent.

There is no apparent regular maintenance on the hill climb to address litter encampments, drug paraphernalia, and human waste.

The issue is that there appears to be no security patrols on or near those stairs or Western Avenue outside of the Pike Place Market Historical District, especially after ours.

Neither the waterfront management nor the city seem to be responsible for the area and its maintenance largely ignored.

Well, both the Pike Place Market and the Waterfront Park have security patrols.

The stairs and surrounding Western Avenue do how might we get attention to this issue and a permanent resolution where the stairs are treated as an extension to the waterfront park, which it is.

Thank you, ma'am.

Appreciate it.

Our next in-person speaker will be Robin Manoway.

Good morning, everyone.

Teacher council meetings and everything on behalf of serving the church and our community.

And that isn't to downplay or to be remote for anything of that sort, but just to simply show gratitude and to express um his love and care and commitment that he has had towards this community for 43 years.

Um outside of Dr.

Samuel Barry McKinney, he has been the longest standing pastor in the central district.

Um so I just figured that it would be a great pat on the back for him and just to show that as the community um and me, his namesake, his daughter, um, that we appreciate all the time that you have shared just right here on the corner of 28th in Jackson, uh, just by simply renaming him.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next in-person speaker will be Gordon Paddleford.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Gordon Pedelford.

I'm the executive director of the Seattle Streets Alliance, and I come to talk to you about Vision Zero.

Um I don't think we necessarily need to wait for the fall to know what the auditor is gonna say, which is that you know, 80% of our pedestrian fatalities are happening on multiple lane arterials.

And when we're talking about, you know, this has been an 11-year program now.

We're still talking about the same streets.

We're still talking about Rainier, Aurora, MLK, Lake City Way, Fourth Avenue South, and the ingredient that's been missing has not been a lack of ideas or commitment from SDOT, it's been a lack of political will to tackle those really hard changes.

Because we know those are gonna be difficult conversations about reducing the right-of-way, narrowing, planting trees, adding bike lanes, adding bus lanes, whatever the solutions are.

Those challenges are difficult, but they're gonna keep our neighbors safe.

They're gonna make sure everyone gets home to their loved ones.

They're gonna live up to our commitment to keep our fellow citizens alive as they go about their daily business.

So when I think about the top line that's gonna come back from that auditors report, it's gonna be something we already know.

Which is that there are some big rocks, and we all need to put our shoulders to those rocks to move them.

Um lastly, I would just say um, you know, this council has an opportunity to invest in that push.

Last fall, there was an opportunity to invest all of the camera funding back in Division Zero.

This council did not take that opportunity.

And in the spring supplemental or the fall budget, there's an opportunity to think about reinvesting that funding in the division zero program.

So thank you all for your commitment.

I know we're all aligned on values, and I really appreciate this council's commitment to keeping everyone safe.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our final in-person speaker.

I may be mispronouncing the name.

I believe it's Brandon DeBlatter.

Councilmember Saka announced an audit on Seattle's Vision Zero program.

I would still like to know why.

At least 18 people were killed or killed when they were just walking or rolling by motor vehicles last year.

That should be plenty of evidence that we are not doing enough to reduce the number to zero in the next four years.

The problem isn't that we don't know what to do, it's that we lack the political will to do it.

Why was the Union street bus lane saved only after street advocates noticed the city was bulldozing bike infrastructure in preparation for opening it back up to cars?

Why were speed cushions quietly removed from the Lake Washington Boulevard designs?

Why was the recently completed airport way bike lane reduced to a size that would prevent two cargo bikes from passing each other?

And perhaps most famously, why did it take citywide outcry, several comic strips, and a t-shirt campaign to save protective infrastructure on Delridge and 22nd Ave Southwest.

Even then, for some reason we had to add another intersection to a perfectly functional corner, yet another opportunity for a pedestrian to be hit by a car.

All these examples have something in common.

Each time a car evite our car advocate talked directly to the city, and the city compromised on safety and attempt to make streets more convenient for cars.

If we were to actually be serious about achieving vision zero, we need to act immediately using what we already know.

We already know that selling motor vehicles and restricting the movement saves lives.

We need to simply do this everywhere, focusing most of our attention on high-risk areas.

We need a team of people that immediately responds to each additional death for motor vehicles in Seattle by creating infrastructure in that area to prevent a death from ever happening again.

SDOT has made a half-hearted effort at East Pine and Bellevue, the site of Liliana Moreno's death, where they installed permanent daylighting in one corner where neighbors and safety advocates placed DIY barriers and cones.

However, all inner corners of that inner of that section need daylight need daylighting.

This is a gap where the city can do more to make the street safer.

Instead of tasking people to do another study, Seattle process anyone, we should task people to actually change our streets to slow cars.

We need a department of transportation that builds infrastructure for walking, biking, and transit first.

Right now they build for cars first.

We need to prioritize the pedestrians and bikes.

Thank you.

Save Kirby.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Dale Bladder.

I'll just say dope t-shirt.

Would love one myself.

Appreciate your comments.

Thank you.

All right, we will now move on to the remote uh public commenters.

Our first uh remote speaker will be Carlo Alcantaro.

Uh Carlo, please unmute your phone, Star 6, and you can begin.

Hello.

Uh my name is Carlo.

I'm a resident of D5 and help lead Aurora Reimagine Coalition as well.

Um I wanted to comment today on Vision Zero.

Um as we're nearing the 2030 deadline that we have established to end traffic related deaths and serious injuries.

We're unfortunately not on track to reach this goal.

So my ask here is that the city establish a rapid response to Vision Zero.

Um Councilmember Saka, you're the proclaimed or self-proclaimed pothole king, um, which I'm sure we can all appreciate.

Um, getting potholes filled and making our our drives, our rides, our walks a bit less bumpy.

So I would like to encourage you as well to become the Vision Zero king.

For a rapid response, we need to do something similar to what we've done with potholes, the fine uh timeline of 72 hours to resolution of safety when a death or serious injury occurs.

That means we do quick builds, we install semi-permanent street reconfigurations for safety with an outcome that will prevent a death or serious injury at the site or one has occurred from ever happening again.

We'd have just under four years remaining to achieve the vision zero goal, and we're in crisis territory now.

So we can do this, we must do this, or we won't meet our deadline to meet Vision Zero and end traffic deaths and serious injuries.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Our final in-person speaker will be Irene Wall.

Irene, please unmute yourself via star six and you can begin.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Irene Wall.

Last evening I sent you an email regarding the new big black blot that recently emerged blocking the CEPA protected view from Victor Steinbrook Park.

I ask you to read that email and take immediate action to request the appropriate departments, SDOT, Seattle City Light, and SDCI to resolve this matter by getting rid of the black monolith.

Most of you are too young to remember the big view battle that was resolved 25 years ago, ending with an agreement to redesign the waterfront hotel to protect the view from Victor Steinbrook Park in light of both CEPA and shoreline management program policies, which have not changed.

So why were those lessons lost when some how the strangely enhanced utility poll was erected directly into the legally protected viewscape from Victor Steinbrook Park?

This is not the first time the city has ignored its obligations to protect public views.

Make the effort to get rid of that terrible blot on the Victor Steinbrook Park landscape.

Please do it today.

Thank you.

Chair, we've concluded public comment.

All right, thank you.

We will now move on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Agenda item one, resolution 32195.

A resolution providing an honorary designation of South Jackson Street between 28th Avenue South and 29th Avenue South as Dr.

R.

L.

Manaway Sr.

Way.

Thank you.

Uh and first off, um, I note that Council President Hollingsworth has graciously joined us.

Thank you so much.

Uh she'll introduce this resolution here momentarily, but looks like our presenter has joined us at the table.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Uh please introduce yourself.

Uh and then when ready, share your presentation.

Thank you.

Good morning, Council members.

Amanda Allen with Central Staff.

Brendan, I wonder if you can help me my Google search on how to get this to share it.

And Troll L to do the full screen.

All right, we'll make this work.

Um, I'm here to talk to you today about honorary street designations.

Oh, my cute graphic isn't showing up.

How sad.

All right.

Um, just a little background about honorary street designations for context of the resolution that's before you today.

There are no formal rules actually around honorary street designations.

There are practices that we have um grown accustomed to, and starting with if we want to have an honorary street designation, a single block is identified.

And there is a resolution that's adopted by the council.

Council has a champion of the resolution, and in this case, the resolution you're receiving is sponsored by the council president.

The actual legal name does not change.

So mail would still go to the legal address.

This is truly um just an honor.

And the person or the group requesting the designation would actually pay for the installation of the signs on either end of the block.

And SDOT estimates that this is about $2,000.

So that group would work with SDOT to ensure that the name was correct and that it was installed where they were hoping.

Again, you're missing my wonderful graphics for which I included alt text.

So the resolution before you proposes an honorary designation for the Black South on South Jackson Street between 28th Avenue South and 29th Avenue South.

Uh, proposes the name of Dr.

R.

L.

Manaway Sr.

And Reverend Dr.

Robert L.

Manaway Sr.

is currently the senior pastor of Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Seattle.

As his daughter mentioned in public comment, he has worked tirelessly for over four decades promoting residential and outreach services throughout the Pacific Northwest.

So I will that's the end of my presentation.

If there are questions about the process, I'm happy to answer them.

I'm sure Council President is going to share more about this esteemed gentleman.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Miss Allen.

Uh appreciate the the overview.

And yes, uh, we'll now turn it over to Council President Hollingsworth uh to introduce and and talk about the resolution.

Awesome.

Thank and thank you, Count uh Chair.

Sorry, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, and I also want to thank your office uh for your uh your leadership on this as well, and then working together with ours.

Once we asked uh and and had information from the community about this, you said anything, whatever is needed.

So just want to thank you all uh for for your for your leadership and collaboration on that.

Um thank you so much for the presentation.

Colleagues before us here today.

Um you heard uh Pastor Manaway's daughter come and speak, um, but was a senior has been the senior pastor of T Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in the central district for a very long time.

Um and since 19, excuse me, since 1983.

Um the congregation has more than 1700 members during that time.

He's a respected leader in the community, a trailblazer in the Pacific Northwest, Pastor Manaway uh serves in numerous uh numerous civic roles, uh including the National Baptist Convention of the USA, where he sits on the board of directors and serves as a far west uh vice president for the Congress of Christian Education.

Um and I know I have a bunch of things that Pastor Manaway has done, but I'm gonna just speak from the heart if if just real quick.

Uh we know that the cultural institutions of the central district um are very important to people.

And as some people often know, like you know, people see, oh, it's just a sign, or this is like more for that because this is a beloved member of the community that that has been there through um uh food access, who's been there helping with um uh youth access as well, um, has served the community faithfully and has been a leading rock and also has been a leader in the community for so many different families during their faith journey, but also just as a community, a community center.

Tabernacle church has been a staple in the community for a very long time.

And as you heard his daughter say um uh about um Reverend McKinney is the second uh longest serving pastor at the same church uh in our central district, and that is huge because a lot of churches, after a lot of the gentrification happened, went south.

So they went to Kent, they moved as we call the Kentral district, uh Kent Federal Way, they move south.

This church is still there, and the congregation, even though some of them might not live in the central district, they still come back.

And so I'm really grateful that this is up uh for a resolution and working with their office.

It has a ton of community support and looking forward, and hopefully, all the the council members can come there um during the celebration.

Uh, and we'll make sure that we get that invite to everyone as well.

So thank you all.

Really appreciate the opportunity to be here and to speak on behalf of Pastor Manaway um as well and his congregation.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council President Hollingsworth.

Uh got a chance to learn a little bit more uh about Dr.

Manaway as as part of this journey and an esteemed, highly respected member of the community.

Uh of course, as council president noted, senior pastor at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church.

Um also serves as president of the North Pacific Baptist Convention, overseeing churches across Washington and Oregon.

Uh co-host of the gospel radio program called the Truth Radio Ministry, reaching listeners across the Pacific Northwest.

Uh so much, so much more.

We uh as Council President noted, we heard from uh family member at public comment.

Um but what an incredible uh life and legacy um that he continues to live and so great that we're able to do this small thing to to pay it forward uh and and honor those that came before us.

So all right, cool.

Well, thank you.

Do any of my colleagues have any questions or comments?

All right, hearing seeing none.

Uh do any or excuse me, I move that the committee recommend adoption of resolution 32195.

Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded for recommendation to uh to adopt resolution 32195.

Are there any final comments?

Hearing and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendation to adopt resolution 32195?

Councilmember Foster.

Yes.

Vice Chair Rank.

Yes.

Chair Saka.

Aye.

Chair, there are three votes in favor and zero opposed.

All right.

Thank you.

Uh the motion carries and the committee recommendation that the council adopt resolution 32195 will be sent to the April 21st, 2026 City Council meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh we will now move on to our second item of business.

Will the clerk please read item two into the record?

Agenda item two.

Traffic safety update.

Review of 2025 data and overview of 2026 Vision Zero projects.

All right, thank you.

Will our presenters please join us at the table?

Looks like they're doing that now.

Uh when you're ready, please introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.

Before we get there, let me quickly uh address and respond to some of the great public comment that we had today.

Um first off the uh the opportunity, the purported opportunity that we had last year to invest in Vision Zero, invest more in Vision Zero.

Uh what we use that money for was for sidewalks.

I would argue that adding sidewalks to schools to support our children is a vision zero investment.

Um but reasonable minds may disagree on on certain things.

Uh but I I really do appreciate the public comment.

I want everyone to know I listen attentively and and pay close attention.

Um, and there was some great insights here.

Uh and including from some of the remote callers, jotted down some notes.

So um stay tuned.

Uh all right, welcome again.

Please introduce yourselves and begin the presentation.

Pull the board.

Vinanimani.

I'm the Chief Transportation Safety Officer and City Traffic Engineer with Seattle Department of Transportation.

So thank you so much.

Uh good morning, Chair Saka, Vice Chair Rink, and Councilmember Foster.

Thank you for inviting us back to speak about and provide an update on the Vision Zero program.

As I do with all my presentations, I'd like to start uh with our department's vision, values, and goals.

We at Seattle Department of Transportation have a vision that Seattle is an equitable, vibrant, and diverse city.

We're moving around a safe, fair, and sustainable.

All people in businesses can access their daily needs and feel connected to their community.

Specifically within the Vision Zero program, we are especially committed to the goals of values of safety and equity.

Now, I also want to take a moment to hold some space and acknowledge the lives that have been significantly altered because of traffic violence on our streets since the beginning of the 2015 Vision Zero uh resolution and program here within the city.

So uh diving into uh the presentation, this is a chart that I have shared in uh my January update on the Vision Zero program.

This is the chart that uh reflects the lives lost on our Seattle streets since the start of our uh Vision Zero efforts.

And for the year 2025, we have slightly revised the number of lives lost on our city streets upwards from 2020 from 25 that have reported in January to 27 uh as I'm showing right now.

Now, just weeks ago, we were informed by the Washington state about a fatality on Rainier Av that involved a southbound vehicle jumping the curb and hitting a pedestrian on the cross on the sidewalk near Rainier Ave and South Charles Street.

This was a delayed fatality.

We got to learn through the Washington uh state as we match our uh police uh crash records, and that's how we got to learn about uh this uh fatal outcome, even though we were informed of uh of this particular collision through when it happened last late last December.

Now another fatality that we chose to count this time around involves an e-scooter riding on the sidewalk at first and blanched.

This particular fatality, it was determined that the cause of death was an aneurysm.

However, we are not at this point sure if the fall that from the shade e-scooter resulted in the aneurysm or the aneurysm caused the rider to fall.

We are unsure.

So to be conservative, we chose to include in the total number of lives lost statistic, and if we get further information in the future, we could kind of like revise it downwards, but to be conservative, we uh chose.

So that said, there have been a total of 27 uh lives lost on our city streets last year.

Now, in various categories, we have seen the fewer uh lives lost, but one thing that, as I have pointed out in uh my January presentation that stands out uh rather a little bit alarmingly, is the number of people walking.

Now, after seeing several years of steady declines, last year we have seen a sharp increase in the number of deaths for people walking, and we are making every effort to understand why that has been the case and what could we do more to improve safety for uh people walking.

This is a new chart uh from uh uh for this uh presentation that has not been included in the January presentation is the number of serious injuries that we have seen on Seattle streets.

Now, compared to 2024, we have seen pretty similar uh serious injuries on our uh streets.

Uh, most categories they were uh about the same, but uh we saw a slight increase in the serious injuries for bicycles and e-scooters that went up to an annual total of 57, and of those 57, we know that uh at least 16 of those involve e-scooters.

And when we kind of like looked at the police traffic collision reports, at least three of those 16 e-scooter collisions made reference to a shade mobility device that uh they were using at the time of the collision.

Now we have seen uh a downward trend in the total number of serious injuries that uh involved people walking, but again, those uh levels still seem uh relatively higher.

So just a quick look or a snapshot into how things are going this year.

Now, compared to an uh three-year average uh in the first quarter of this year, we have seen fewer uh fatal collisions and lives lost, and also fewer serious injuries on our streets.

I do want to caution that this is very preliminary data, and as the year progresses and we get more information, uh these numbers could be revised, but uh I do want to indicate that uh we are seeing, at least we have seen thus far in Q1, fewer fatal and serious injury collisions on our streets compared to the last three-year average.

Now, uh the next three slides are the same slides that I have chosen to include in uh that I have included in the in the January presentation.

This is a quick representation of our uh high injury network within our uh on our in our city.

I do want to draw attention to the really uh red and orange lines that you're seeing on on these maps.

And these are the within the high injury network, these are the two categories of uh street segments that have the highest or the second highest uh priority in terms of priority.

The reason why I'm trying to call this out is because that more than 80% of our fatal and serious injury collisions uh occur on uh on this high injury network, and within those more than half of them occur on these uh two uh highest priority segments within the high injury network.

And I do know that we at the department are working on a much longer term and more significant changes to the corridor.

And within the Vision Zero program, we have also taken some interim actions or short-term measures such as implementing leading pedestrian intervals, widening crosswalks, building medians, and so on to provide some short-term safety improvements along the corridor.

Now in the central uh part of our city, downtown continues to be a challenging location where we are seeing a number of streets that are represented on the high injury network.

And we are looking at what else we could do to further safety goals within the downtown.

And going kind of like southward, the reineer, the reinier uh avenue of the uh Rainier Avenue and Fourth Avenue continue to be continue to be on the high engineering network with the highest priority.

And again, we here in the department have several projects that are in the works on Rainier Avenue to change some of the crash trends that we are seeing.

Now, I I do want to uh emphasize before I uh go into the various vision zero projects that we have, uh, this particular program has been undertaking.

Uh, I do want to share and emphasize that we are absolutely committed to the safe systems approach.

We believe that is the right paradigm for approaching safety within our uh within our city and within the department, and all our efforts, both within the Vision Zero program and across the wider department, are all aligned within the uh elements of the safe systems approach and tied to the principles of the safe systems approach.

And specifically within the Vision Zero program, as I've shared uh previously, we do take a three-pronged approach.

We do rely on uh a responsive approach to safety based on the collision trends that we are seeing from the police reported crash data, but we also are investing in the proactive safety countermeasure proactively in safety counter measures that we know have a proven uh track record in improving safety.

And as a third prong, we always try to leverage any opportunities that we have with ongoing projects or upcoming projects where we could invest in safety with our Capture Project Partnership.

Now, before I go uh before before I go uh into highlighting some of the 2025 Vision Zero projects, I do want to emphasize that safety is a common thread in every program, project policy, and action undertaken by the department.

Vision Zero is one of several programs that has uh safety as its uh core value.

So the projects that I'm going to show you here are not a comprehensive listing of all safety efforts that are being pursued by the department, but a small snapshot of what is specifically happening within the Vision Zero program.

And even within the Vision Zero program, it's not a comprehensive accounting of every single project that the program is pursuing, but rather a highlight of the projects, the kinds of projects that we are have completed in 2025 and what we are going to be doing in 2026.

Now, the Levy has provided an historic opportunity, thank you thanks to all of you and uh the residents of uh our city for supporting the Levy and giving an historic opportunity to invest in safety outcomes.

Specifically for the Vision Zero program, we have uh four levy deliverable goals.

One is to invest in safety upgrades on up to 12 uh corridors across the city, invest in at least 40 high collision locations uh within the city over the next eight years, invest in arterial traffic coming on 50 corridors, and uh complete at least 280 intersections with uh leading and uh pedestrian intervals or what we call the ped start uh head pedestrian head start signals.

Now, this particular uh slide I want to show you uh briefly about how we have done in year one of our uh levy.

Now uh this the list of projects that you are seeing here are projects that were actually completed in the calendar year 2025.

We have invested in the North 130th uh safety corridor to improve walking and biking, uh connecting Ingram High School uh along the corridor and revising the corridor footprint with reduced number of lanes and uh making sure that the corridor is ready for a future connection to uh a light light rail uh station that's going to be coming up soon.

We have completed investments in uh eight high injury uh high collision locations across the city and completed uh three arterial traffic coming corridors, one of which uh Consumer Saka is in your district on 14th Avenue South when we had that uh tragic fatality at 14th Avenue South and South Henderson last year.

So all these are aimed at changing the safe, improving the safety outcomes and uh reducing on our network.

We have also completed uh implementing pedestrian head start signals at 45 different locations, and we continue to invest in implementing no-turn and red restriction at 100 intersections last year.

Now, looking forward to our uh project our construction projects in 2026, we have lined up a tremendous number of projects that would be going into uh construction uh even in within this uh challenging construction window that we have with uh the FIFA World Cup uh coming around soon.

We have uh we are going to be uh starting or completing construction on South Henderson uh Street on Renton Ave and Spring Street uh within the city for our three safety corridor upgrades.

We have finished uh design and are ready to implement construction on 18 different corridors for arterial traffic coming.

These include corridors such as MLK and uh Rainier Avenue, airport uh airport way, to name just a few.

And we have also uh we are also going to be investing in uh 27 additional high collision locations across uh across the city this year.

Continuing on uh the construction projects in uh 2026, we will be uh we have recently invested in a number of safety treatments along the Aurora Corridor, and we will be doing that again this year too.

We will be completing a new pedestrian signal at North 137th Street and Aurora Avenue North, which has been a high collision location for a number of years uh at this time.

And to continue on our proactive uh investments, we are going to continue our investing in uh and implementing no-turn and red at another 108 intersections this year, uh, pursue enhanced crossings at six uh additional locations.

Now, this is an additive effort to an entire program within the department that is dedicated to purely uh in investing in enhanced pedestrian crossings.

So Vision Zero is multiplying is acting as a force multiplier to that uh particular program in investing in pedestrian crossings.

We will be updating uh several signals with implementing protected left-hand facing to minimize conflicts between turning vehicles and people crossing at intersections and pursue another 30 to 80 intersections uh for the pedestrian uh head start signals this year.

Now to share kind of like a little bit on what projects that we'd be working on design this year, uh these involve Rainier Avenue, Highland Parkway South, 12th Avenue, and South Othello Street.

No, we a lot of these uh locations are in D2 and uh in South Seattle because that is one of the most challenging districts that we have in terms of both the safety needs and uh the equity priority across the city, and we continue to guide our efforts both based on data and on the equity priority within the city.

Uh one of the uh intersections that I would love to uh highlight is the Rainier Avenue and Cornell uh Avenue South.

This is an intersection that's very near to the city limits as people come from uh Renton into uh into Seattle, and that's kind of like the first time where we are introducing them to the citywide speed limit of 25 miles an hour.

The at this particular uh intersection, we are uh developing a concept for a roundabout.

Roundabouts have a pro and track record of uh improving safety outcomes and reducing speeds on our roadways.

Actually, uh almost 25 years ago, my master's thesis was on uh roundabouts.

And I have had a long history of working uh with uh our researching roundabouts and their effectiveness.

And in addition to that, uh we are also kind of like working diligently on the safe streets and roads for all uh grant.

It is one of the largest grants that we have received.

We have received over uh 25 million dollars, approximately about 25 million dollars from the federal government, and we are investing several million dollars of our own money to uh pursue a number of pedestrian safety improvements uh and bike safety improvements across the city.

We are now uh actively working on designing a number of projects within that grant and will soon be uh taking them to construction.

We have uh up till 2029 to finish uh all the projects that were identified in the grant and uh fully complete uh what we have undertaken several years ago.

And uh Vision Zero program in particular continues to be very effective in receiving a lot of uh state grants to improve safety outcomes.

These uh grants are uh really vital uh for our program because they act as uh leverage for our own local dollars that we have here within the city and within the department and within the program to pursue additional uh safety outcomes.

This particular uh grant involves investing in additional pedestrian head start signals and no-turn and rates at uh about 40 to 50 intersections across uh the city.

So we are excited to get started on uh that particular project uh this year.

So uh one thing that I'd say to wrap up my presentation today is that the Vision Zero program always looks at a three-year cycle when we are uh looking to pursue projects.

We always think about what projects can we construct in a given calendar year, and what projects can we design in this year so that they can be taken to construction next year, and what projects can we plan this year to take them into design next year?

So we're always thinking about three years ahead and trying to line up all our uh pipelines, the construction pipeline, the design pipeline, and the planning pipeline, so that we have an really providential cycle of projects that are uh constantly in the works, and that we can uh implement safety improvements in as many locations across the city as possible.

Thank you so much for your time, and I'd be happy to take any questions.

Thank you, Mr.

Namani.

Really appreciate uh you and all you do, and then this presentation today.

Very, very helpful.

Uh colleagues, I have a few questions uh that I'm gonna kick off to frame the conversation today.

And then I welcome any comments, questions from you all.

First off, what so earlier in January uh during our last presentation, we talked about some potential solutions uh to addressing better addressing Vision Zero and you know the influence that impairment uh our impairment laws have on us achieving our goals and specifically there was a proposal in Olympia last session that I supported, I think our city supported as well to raise the blood alcohol limit, or excuse me, lower the blood alcohol threshold from 0.8 to 0.5, I think, making in line with Utah, maybe one or two other states.

Um did not pass this year, unfortunately, but all is to say uh Mr.

Namani, what what is your what is your view today of what the city needs to be successful with better realizing and achieving our ambitious goals of Vision Zero Broadly speaking, right?

The one thing that I would kind of like uh it's not about kind of like what additional things that we are doing, but it's uh a lot more about what we are already doing, what we know uh already works, trying to implement pro and safety countermeasures more widely across the city, investing in and thinking about safety in every project program and action, and specifically kind of like I would say that uh investing in our Hindury network, uh looking at some of the corridors that have been historically uh been on uh the high injury network and uh maybe uh carry uh an uh disproportionate share of the fatal and serious injury collisions, trying to look at those kinds of corridors, be it the Aurora Avenue of the world or the Rainier Avenues of the world, and trying to uh implement as many projects as possible to fundally fundamentally shift the dynamics on those corridors is uh vitally important.

I'd also say that an equally important uh action is something that we have already uh uh taken a systemic approach towards is managing speeds on our arterials.

Uh this could take kind of like any number of uh potential solutions from uh looking at narrower lanes, looking at uh uh looking at redesigning the corridors, look uh implementing arterial traffic coming uh measures, but uh doing that at scale managing speeds are probably kind of like you know, some specific actions that we can take to see our different outcomes with our uh with our safety.

Thank you.

Um frame this this conversation about the role of enforcement in traffic safety.

Uh at the March 3rd Levy Oversight Committee meeting, a committee member, one of my levy oversight committee colleagues presented some rather intriguing data about the potential correlation between traffic enforcement and traffic fatalities.

She displayed a chart demonstrating that there was a 90% decline, apparently, in traffic infractions and a 11% increase in traffic fatalities between 2010 and 2024.

If true, this would be an overall correlation of negative 0.83.

In other words, as infractions go down, fatalities increase.

Now smart colleague.

Uh haven't been able to independently verify uh that the evidence there and the and the research that was shared, but the conclusions share do strike me as something that seems to make sense.

So we'd just love to, and we know that automated camera enforcement is one form, one of the 40 plus effective countermeasures for addressing safety.

But we'd just love to hear from your perspective.

What is the role of enforcement and traffic safety?

I believe there is a role for enforcement and uh traffic safety.

Uh, but as you know, we kind of like in the Seattle Department of Transportation does not have do not have an uh direct say in the various enforcement activities.

So I'd kind of like leave that to uh my colleagues within the Seattle Police Department.

But uh you're right that uh automated safety cameras is one of many tools uh that we could use to manage speeds on our arterial network, and it has uh been uh proven to be uh uh reliable uh safety countermeasure uh both nationally and locally.

What we have seen is that where we have invested in implementing safety cameras within school zones, we have seen uh better and safer outcomes within those school zones.

So it is a tool, but I do want to emphasize that as an engineering department, we have uh more of a say and control in how we can plan, design, operate, and maintain our streets.

And that is going to be kind of like the primary focus for us in trying to influence not only the road user behavior, but also the uh safety outcomes that we are going to see, and that's where kind of like we would uh be emphasizing, but yes, uh safety cameras do have a role to play uh in the overall enforcement strategy, and it has proven uh to see some positive outcomes.

Thank you.

Final question.

So we know that the practice of daylighting intersections has proven to be an effective safety engineering countermeasure in cities like Hoboken, New Jersey.

Very, very successful in their vision zero equivalent program.

Not a fair at all apples to apples comparison because of the huge differential in density between Seattle and Hoboken.

However, there are higher level insights and learnings that we can gather from leading jurisdictions like Hoboken as well.

We also know that there is no one size fits all approach.

But how do you envision being able to leverage daylighting across the city going forward?

And what are some typical barriers to implementation of daylighting in areas of greatest need?

Thank you so much for daylighting that question.

No pun intended.

Yes.

Intersection daylighting has uh has uh a proven uh track record of safety, and that is one of the reasons why within the Vision Zero program, we have chosen to make it part of our proactive safety investment strategy, and we have dedicated uh a certain portion of our funding every year to invest in uh intersection daylighting efforts at a variety of intersections across the city.

Uh I believe uh working with our uh shade mobility program, we are pursuing intersection daylighting at uh 200 different intersections this year, and it continues to be part of uh part of our straight uh strategy because we have seen where implemented that intersection daylighting uh improves site lines and gives people more time to react to the various uh conflicts they might be facing at intersections.

Now, parking uh too close to an intersection is uh against both state and uh local laws, and intersection daylighting actually can take many shapes and forms in how we enforce that from doing and uh implementing curve bulbs to uh just implementing signs that reinforce that uh restriction.

So we pursued intersection daylighting in a number of different ways uh to uh enhance safety at uh intersections, and it is a key part of our proactive safety strategy within the vision zero program.

Awesome.

Well, uh thank you.

Uh we'll now turn it over to my colleagues uh for any comments or questions from your perspective, starting first with Vice Chair Rink.

Thank you, Chair Saka, and I want to begin my remarks today in a similar fashion as you did when beginning this meeting in a similar fashion as the department did in beginning this presentation, just centering the human component of all of this.

And this conversation feels very different when you know someone who is represented in slide four of this presentation.

We are talking about our neighbors that we've lost each of these losses having rippling effects to our communities, their families forever altered.

And I just want to center that before going into my questions because this is a heavy topic and one that certainly my office has heard a lot about, particularly with the traffic fatalities that have happened this year alone.

And so to that end in the aftermath of these events, people are desperate for answers to understand what what went wrong.

And so I would love if the department could outline um what aftermath response looks like for the department when there's a traffic fatality.

Can you walk us through the department's response and your interactions with Seattle Fire Department, Seattle Police Department?

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you so much for asking that question.

Uh typically uh on the day off itself through our transportation operations center, we get notified of an incident on our uh network.

So that is the first time that I and several leaders within uh the Seattle uh Department of Transportation learn of what is happening on our streets, and we share that information uh widely within uh within uh with city uh city officials.

Uh usually uh within a week or two, uh the police department would send us the police traffic collision report that gives us a little bit more information about what uh what were the various circumstances uh and who did what at a particular location that resulted in this fatality.

So that is uh the police traffic collision report that uh gets shared with us a couple of weeks later.

Actually within a day or two, they do send us a quick email saying that hey, there was a fatal collision that happened, but that doesn't have like a lot of information other than a two-lined or a three-line narrative about the particular uh collision.

So after we receive the police uh traffic collision report, our process involves going out to the site and documenting existing conditions.

We are looking for uh a review of the particular uh intersection, looking at what were the geometrics, what are the traffic control conditions, what were the lighting conditions at the particular location, and uh we document all of that and we uh take any uh immediate uh maintenance related items, uh we take care of any maintenance related items at that particular location.

Now that is kind of like where our current uh process stops, but uh we are in the in conversations actually uh uh I have I have to still kind of like brief uh my chain of command within uh department transportation to see what additional things can we do to more uh rapidly uh respond to and uh do some uh additional quick build uh improvements at uh location where a fatality has occurred.

Now we are uh cautious as we proceed with those kinds of actions today because there is not only a safety uh there may be some safety uh needs at that location, but we are also cautious about the potential liability concerns that come with the various actions.

Uh for years, all our uh safety investments and actions have been guided by uh trend and uh collisions that we have we are seeing at a particular location and how we have prioritized our limited safety dollars.

And I think that is still true, but we are also seeing uh further need to look at how we can respond to fatal collisions uh more quickly, and that is something that we are actively working on and developing a policy framework to allow the department to do within the confines of uh the risk and liability associated with those fatal collisions.

Thank you for detailing that.

I think it's just helpful to understand behind the scenes what the department is up to following these incidents and really encouraging to hear that the department is considering areas for improvement as well.

I know we heard in public comment today, just uh desire for a community to feel like there's a felt response and see some type of action, but understanding it's not always that simple when we're talking about what kind of immediate actions we can take, and sometimes the most meaningful in uh action we can take to try and prevent future measures.

We're talking about a large-scale capital project that really is at the root of tackling kind of the built environment of that area.

So we'd love to continue that conversation about opportunities to improve that rapid response so we can really at least have clear communication with the public about how we how the department is responding and how we're grappling with this.

And and building on this point with our vision zero projects, um for the vision zero projects that we have completed.

Could you walk through what the department's current evaluation process looks like?

How are we evaluating that those investments are having some impact improving safety?

Yeah, absolutely.

Uh be it kind of like uh uh a project that we have completed or uh in policy that we have implemented, we always kind of like go back and evaluate what the impact of that action has been.

For example, before we uh more widely implemented the 25 mile an hour uh speed limit, we have implemented that uh reduction in speed limit on specific corridors within urban centers and urban uh villages, right?

We have done some before-after analyses of uh that particular action, which clearly showed benefits in reducing not only the speeds but also improving the safety outcomes uh as a result of that action.

Uh we also do post-project evaluations, right?

One thing that comes to mind is the changes that we have implemented in Northeast 65th Street and the before-after study that we have uh conducted uh in analyzing how the safety investments and improvements that we have pursued as part of the corridor of that corridor project actually improved in safety outcomes.

So we document these and we uh publish these reports on uh online so that uh we can transparently show what the impact has been.

Now I think we can do a lot uh more in uh in the various actions that we are taking and uh the kind of post-evaluation that we could conduct at for the various actions that we are taking and actually build that concrete data-based data-driven results that we could leverage to do more of those kinds of improvements.

And that is one area I'd be working with my team to enhance our capabilities and do more of post develop post-project evaluations.

Awesome.

And when we're looking ahead towards our upcoming Vision Zero projects, thank you for laying out what's going on for 2026.

And I'm thinking about the the rest of the levy, and we know that there are additional projects, uh, Vision Zero projects on um particularly focused on our higher injury network.

As was mentioned earlier, we know where we need to be making investments.

It's just a matter of when we get the ball rolling on those.

And so my question is what would it take for the department to consider front loading some more of those major high impact vision zero projects to earlier in the levy probably kind of like uh it's probably kind of like a conversation that I need to have with uh our uh our uh department uh leaders uh with Angie and others, and how we can what measures we could take to expedite some of these larger projects that we are already considering, for example, the Aurora corridor uh that we are working on and what we can do to expite the that project uh while also pursuing some of the short-term uh improvements.

So uh I'd say kind of like additional conversations and seeing kind of like what our department resources are, what we have committed thus far, and what uh we what flexibility we have within the work plans that various programs within uh the department are developing and working on and how we can expedite is uh as a broader conversation that uh I think uh I should we should have within the department.

Certainly uh appreciate that and look forward to that conversation with the department because we just simply have to make movement forward on addressing uh the challenges on the roads that we know are the most dangerous roads in our city, Aurora Avenue Rainier Av.

We just gotta make that movement.

And so, Chair, hopeful that we can have that conversation with the department of future discussions on levy implementation plan about opportunities to frontload some of that work so we can really start making those safety improvements.

And I I'll close with uh one uh final question, and thank you, Chair, for indulging me.

Um, oftentimes projects that propose big changes uh can lead to a lot of uh community input.

Um perhaps folks who primarily rely on uh driving who are perhaps prioritizing their own convenience over some safety improvements.

And so we've seen projects that um have perhaps been watered down a bit and uh to at the detriment of keeping folks safe and non-drivers.

And so, how is a strat ensuring that people uh can be heard in in this work, but we're still prioritizing safety at the heart of this.

Thank you again.

Uh community input is a really important aspect of any project development within any project development cycle uh within the department.

Uh we want all community voices to be heard so that we can take a more the most comprehensive feedback in shaping our uh our projects.

And sometimes this could lead to uh additional conversations uh and I acknowledge that, but that's the reason why we are especially on kind of like corridors such as Aurora, we have kind of like a two-pronged approach as we are developing some of the larger uh wholesale uh redesigns of the corridor, we are simultaneously investing in short-term improvements.

In 2024, we did uh leading pedestrian intervals, wider crosswalks, uh no-turn and red intersections on Aurora and no turn and red implementation on Aurora.

In 2025, we have done hardened center lines and built some mediums to restrict certain movements at certain intersections.

We are investing in a new signal at uh 130th this year, and we are working on kind of like another signal for uh the next year all on the corridor, uh all on the corridor.

So I do kind of like uh think that uh community voice uh we have to uh develop our our co-create projects with the community, and I really value the community input, but there are also opportunities to take short-term steps to make sure that we continue to progress on that safety journey for a particular corridor.

Uh, but that's probably kind of like the dual approach that uh recommend taking on projects that are especially complex that need that might need a larger community involvement uh in uh overseeing a more significant change to a particular corridor.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for for that response.

And um I think we all can agree we want to see movement on this.

And this is something we can absolutely address as a city.

So thank you for this presentation today and for answering my questions.

Thank you for the time, Chair.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

Any other comments, questions?

Councilmember Foster, floor is yours.

Thank you so much, Chair, and thank you, Mr.

Namani and Mr.

Labor.

It's always a pleasure to have you all in.

And Vision Zero, as we all know, is an important priority.

And I'll start with just my own personal experience.

I think I've talked to both of you about this.

You know, I was hit as a pedestrian on Rainier Avenue, and maybe a block away from that same location that I was hit as a pedestrian.

I was hit in a vehicle by another vehicle driving down the center lane.

And in that second accident, maybe about a two years after that second accident, STOP put in some improvements with those center lane, I forget what they're called, they're medians essentially.

And so, you know, that accident would no longer be possible because you can't drive in the center lane.

So I really appreciate those improvements.

And I also know because of that personal experience and the data that shows us, and I want you to affirm that I'm correct here.

I believe it's Rainier Avenue, MLK, Fourth Avenue, and Aurora that are the streets that have the most collisions in the city.

Is that correct?

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

I was trying to find my old notes to make sure that was still right.

So thank you for that.

Um so just moving on from that, one of the things that I think is really important is as you all have presented today that we do have a lot of information on where we have the most accidents and the most fatalities in the city.

So one of the questions that I have for you, and I know, Chair, we you opened up by talking about the audit.

I want to make sure that, as we heard from a public commenter today, that the findings of that are useful in moving us forward.

So I wonder if you can sort of speak to information that the department doesn't have access to or information that it might be helpful to get a better understanding of through this audit process so that it is meaningful.

Uh we have kind of like uh a really kind of a good access to police reported collisions across the city, right?

But uh we know and we do acknowledge that uh especially collisions related to bicyclists or uh collisions uh reported to related to east cooters may not always be reported to the police or have a police traffic collision uh report associated with them.

So we are fully aware of that data limitation, and especially for uh eastcoaters when the uh current police traffic collision report doesn't even have a field to uh mark and uh and count an east coater collision.

Typically, those are all kind of like in the uh narratives.

So we have been uh exploring kind of like beyond the data, police reported collision data that we have to see what other data sets that we could leverage.

One uh uh particular avenue that uh we are exploring and allowed to continue to explore is SFD data.

While SFT data might not have all the fields that would we'd see in our typical police coalition report, it still gives us uh the approximate location of the collision and where these kinds of uh responses are taking place within SFD and where they are responding to.

And that kind of like kind of information can be appended to the information that we already have in trying to guide some of our uh departmental and programmatic actions uh as it relate to safety.

Thank you for that.

I think that's really helpful, and um, that's a great segue actually into one of my other questions, which is about the role of collaboration with other departments and ensuring that we're delivering vision zero.

So I mean, you know, my narrative lead into that question is I know there was recently traffic fatality on Capitol Hill, and one of the follow-up actions from my department, and I want to thank City Light for their fast response was around removal of an uh old utility poll, for example, and ensuring that we have really strong sight lines in our pedestrian intersections, and sometimes that is work that is driven by STOP, but sometimes it's work that needs to come out of another city department.

So, can you talk about how other city departments play a role in collaborating with you on Vision Zero?

Yeah, absolutely.

We have uh literally kind of like standing monthly meeting with Seattle Police Department to go over the various uh data points and what they are seeing and trying to kind of like uh ascertain some of the uh collisions that are happening.

Uh we similarly have an standing meeting with Seattle Fire Department uh to not only uh bring projects that uh are uh in the vicinity of a certain fire stations and uh how they might impact emergency response.

We try to get their feedback on various project designs and how we can better design to achieve our safety outcomes while also balancing the needs of the uh emergency department.

Now uh on the same lines, we have a really strong collaboration with Seattle City Light because we here in the uh STAT uh prescribe the lighting levels for various arterials across the city, but it is the City Light who actually implements uh these project projects.

So these are just a few examples of the strong collaboration that we have at various uh city departments, all working towards uh the goal of improving safety outcomes.

Thank you.

That's really helpful.

And do we know at this time if that and and uh what I appreciate really about that answer is it gives us a sense of the intricacies of vision zero.

Um, and you know, we haven't even started to talk about the role of Washt and other state agencies.

I know that you all have been collaborating on a lot of really important work, for example, in the Judkins Park area as that new light rail station opens.

Um and so I do we know at this time whether we'll be able to look at the role that other agencies play in the in the audit that was spoken about earlier.

It's an avenue that we could uh explore.

Uh we definitely that is a really good example of how we have collaborated uh uh collaborated with Washtar to improve the pedestrian crossings at the I-19 to change with uh Rainier across those ramps.

That was a uh partnership project actually with uh with Washtock.

And uh Washt kind of like at the state level uh sets a lot of uh the engineering guidance and also kind of like works with the state uh legislatures, legislators to pursue certain uh policy uh ideas uh that could be kind of like uh considered and uh become kind of like future state laws.

So uh we do have like a significant collaboration with uh wash art uh wash art uh and we work on a number of projects, especially kind of like the larger projects like the revive I5 or others that uh that relationship is very much intertwined in everything that we do because there are kind of like washed out uh roadways that are that go through the city, and then we have a symbiotic relationship and impacts about what happens on the uh washed out roads that kind of like those effects carrying onto the city streets or vice versa.

So those uh relationships uh have stayed strong.

We collaborate with them at multiple levels to uh talk about project-specific ideas or uh even pursue kind of like larger policy uh level ideas.

I personally uh work very closely with our state traffic engineer Donko Chang.

I have like uh, as you all know, he has been my predecessor in this role, and I maintain that strong relationship so that we can talk not only about the things that we are working locally, but also kind of like give him the feedback that we can I can leverage his uh position within the state to uh pursue some uh policy and project goals.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Foster.

Uh I'll close by addressing two more pieces of uh public comment um that I heard all of it excellent and insightful.

Uh we heard from a public commenter earlier uh a an idea proposal that it it to better address vision zero, it's it's gonna take more political will.

Um I don't disagree with that as a proposition, but I would also argue that nearly one billion dollars in traffic safety investments over the course of eight years, the council exercising its principal power of the purse to appropriate nearly one billion dollars that voters generously approved over eight years, that is about as most of the political will as you can get.

That's obviously not the end all be all.

That's part why we're here today.

Um and then the inference was made that we need more bus lanes, bike lanes, pedestrian-friendly improvements.

Yes, couldn't agree more.

But the if the inference is that elected officials should somehow be responsible for personally approving, reviewing and approving every single safety project, every single design on our roads to address safety over the 84 square miles of our city.

I fundamentally disagree.

I'll just share personally every time that I've intervened in specific design decisions, hasn't gone too well.

Even when I've fought for immigrant and refugee communities, our kids, daycares, working families, some people have lost their natural minds.

Still engenders passionate feelings.

And I get that.

But in my experiences in this work, it's easy to espouse high-level priorities.

Easy to espouse value statements.

But if you ask anyone who's ever been at this dais, or the mayor's office upstairs in the seventh floor, the devil is always in the details.

That said, um addressing Mr.

Paddleford's comment earlier.

I really do appreciate the feedback.

Would love to connect and learn more.

Because I know you're committed to uh this work and your organization as well, and I appreciate your partnership and I appreciate your feedback.

I genuinely do.

Um the next thing I'll share is that great, and there's a comment, there's a quick quick question lurking in this one, but we heard from one of the remote public commenters about uh king of potholes.

All right, be the king of traffic safety.

Well, we're we're all trying to be the king's queen's royalty of traffic safety here.

Um it's a race to the top, by the way.

And but 72 hours, they noted the 72-hour SLA service level agreement that we have to report or fill as a city, 80% of reported potholes within 72 hours.

And you know, we the the last briefing we got on this, I think we're up to 85 or 90 percent.

Actually, what we're achieving, so we're above standard, which is great.

So the idea was that you know why not have after a and this was this was a concrete specific proposal, which which very helpful uh in terms of crafting policy.

That the idea was why not have you know within 72 hours of uh significant injury or fatality, 84 square miles.

I don't know, and because of the latency and data, I don't want to speak for you, but I don't know if that's at all workable uh on the serious injury front.

But 72-hour rule or some specified period we respond, start to make or at least develop a plan to make immediate remediations.

We know it can be done last year along Fourth Avenue.

Uh the department in a heroic effort, heroic stretch effort was able to make some much needed repairs and safety upgrades to address bike safety on fourth.

We know it can be done.

You all have worked very closely with me uh to address some traffic safety issues in my council district in South Park, uh along Al Qaeda Harbor Avenue, amongst others, can be done, but truth is you guys cover 84 square miles of territory.

I view my job, I'm at my best when I'm empowering you all to be successful with the tree program, with the sidewalk program with the bike infrastructure upgrade program, and then generally stepping out of the way and and letting you tell me what what you need, and then holding everyone accountable.

Um so the the idea was 72 hours within a fatality, let's just say that.

Uh come make some initial repairs.

Much more complex than a pothole.

Uh you got a design, you gotta you gotta assess, then you gotta design, then you gotta implement.

That's complex work.

But can you just help us better understand what the department's typical response protocols for let's just take fatalities, fatalities that exist today.

What's the department's typical response protocols for fatalities on our roads today?

Uh I believe I uh previously answered uh probably the a similar question from Councilmember Rink about what our uh response to a fatal collision is.

Now uh looking at kind of like that 70 to our number, or sometimes we may not even have a police traffic collision report to fully understand the circumstances related to a crash.

But I I do kind of like understand the underlying uh need that all of you are uh pointing out here is to have a more rapid response at uh locations that uh have that have had fatal collisions, and it is something that uh uh proposal or an idea that we are still kicking around.

Uh I still don't have all the specifics to share with you, but uh it is something that we are closely looking at to see how we can more rapidly respond to uh fatal collisions or fatalities on our on our streets.

Right now, uh within a couple of weeks of receiving uh police traffic collision report, we always follow up with uh site visit documenting conditions and identifying any uh maintenance issues that need to be addressed uh immediately.

And uh we are looking about how we can improve or what additional things that we could do to uh be more responsive to fatal collisions that uh occur at uh locations thank you look forward to learning more and working alongside you all to uh to to better empower and support your your your efforts, but really appreciate it.

All right, um thank you.

Uh we will now move on to our third item of business, and I note that we are losing quorum at 11:30.

Uh our partners at the waterfront, you think you could deliver this?

I think it was about 15 minutes.

Do you think you could do it do it in 10?

Should we invite you back?

Can we do it later?

Yeah, let's let's table that let's table the the third item and and because we're gonna lose quorum anyway.

So um all right, we'll welcome you back next time.

Let's see.

Do any of my fellow committee members have any final questions, comments for the good of the order?

All right.

Hearing no further business to come before the committee, we are adjourned.

It is 11 14 a.m.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.