Updates on relevant court cases and budget schedule
There wasn’t much of any discussion of the SPD budget at today’s budget meetings, in part because there were THREE HOURS of public comment this morning, with 336 people given a chance to speak. Sounds like people really care about what’s going on right now!
The revised schedule for the rest of the 2020 revised budget process is as follows:
Fri July 31: initial review of SPD amendments, after a public comment period beginning at 10am and a Council vote on non-SPD-related amendments
Mon August 3: continued review of SPD-related amendments immediately following the Council Briefing (so I’d guess starting around 10:30am)
Wed August 5: Committee vote on SPD-related amendments
Mon August 10: The final vote on amended legislation
My guess is they will do everything possible to have that final vote on the 10th as the City goes on a two week vacation starting on the 17th.
In other news, the ACLU and Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County filed with the federal court to hold the Seattle police department in contempt for violating the court order barring the indiscriminate use of less-than-lethal weapons on protesters this past weekend. The City of Seattle responded today, denying any wrongdoing by the police department (although individual actions of officers are still open for investigation). Also at the link above, you can also read the statement of SPD Lieutenant John Brooks, the Deputy Operations Sections chief for the demonstration event, for his perspective on what happened. There will be a hearing on Friday morning.
Finally, relating to the Mayor Durkan recall effort, this afternoon a judge denied Mayor Durkan’s request to reconsider the certification of the recall petition against her. The Mayor may now appeal this certification, buying herself some more time, as this process inches forward. Knowing the Council cannot force the Mayor to spend the money they appropriate, meaning she could act as a major roadblock if she so chooses in spite of a veto-proof majority in the Council, I’m even more interested in how this progresses.
More about the ongoing budget meetings on Friday!